House of Purple Cedar

Description

“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of
Skullyville.” Thus begins Rose Goode’s story of her growing up in Indian
Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw
community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson on New
Year’s Eve, 1896, of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died,
but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and
her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways. Soon
after the fire, the white sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town’s people,
humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the
beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness. And so
unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and deep wisdom.
It’s a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix
with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal
potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle—a scholar
of his nation’s language, culture, and spirituality—tells Rose’s story of good
and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.Tim Tingle,
responding to a scarcity of Choctaw literature, began interviewing tribal
elders in the early ’90s. His collection Walking the Choctaw Road was the
Oklahoma Book of the Year. Tingle’s children’s book, Crossing Bok Chitto,
garnered over twenty state and national awards, including Best Children’s Book
from the American Indian Library Association, and was an Editor’s Choice in
the New York Times Book Review. Read more

Features:

Product Details:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cinco Puntos Press (February 18, 2014)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1935955241
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 45
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 years and up
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 860L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.09 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #1,128,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1,835 in Native American Literature (Books) #12,681 in Westerns (Books) #46,282 in Literary Fiction (Books)