Things we asked about and/or learned
from Erin:
What
indigenous vocabulary did we know?
What
parts of the story were true?
Who
were the characters modeled after (were any real people)?
What
was the writing process like? How long did it take? (4 years)
How
did you decide on names?
What
did you think about when you choose to write a story outside of your cultural
knowledge? And the fact that you might be taking space from other indigenous
authors. (Native People couldn’t write this story!)
Discussion Questions we created and some
of our thoughts:
1)
How did your feelings about Helene change from the beginning of the story to
the end?
2)
What did you learn about First Nations/Native Americans by reading the book and
what does it make you wonder about?
• Erin shared the meanings of many things
3)
Was there a moment that stuck with you?
• When Helene wanted to take Wishi Ta because
Western medicine would be better
• When Izzy was attacked
• When Helene was talking to Izzy and the guy
was there looking out for the kids (mother was suspicious of white people)
• When Lewis was in jail
• Change is slow: Helene finally “got it”
little by little, not all at once
•.
Almost dying and killing Wishi Ta
• The ending was perfect
4)
Does your life resemble Helene’s old life or new life or something in the
middle?
5)
What did you know about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and other legal
forms of oppression against First Nations?
6)
What parts of the story were believable and what was of concern to you as you
read the story?
• Marriage of Lewis and Renee
• Helene seemed irrational when she took Wishi
Ta
• Would Lewis really give up legal rights?
• Why would you have a garden, if you spent
time away?
• Lewis was more likeable through the diary
than in person
We
hope a lot of people read it, especially if they don’t know much about
indigenous culture. It is a compelling story.