When the Great Canoes Came - Paperback

by Mary Louise Clifford (Author)

The heritage of the North American Indian tribes has always been passed down through storytelling as well as rituals of
dance and song. Few written histories today can recount the past as well as the tribal elders who once served as the historical, philosophical, and cultural educators of the entire community. Mary Louise Clifford's When the Great Canoes Came recreates this lost practice for young readers as the setting for telling the history of the Virginian Indians following their first contact with European explorers at Jamestown.

The storyteller is Cockacoeske, the seventeenth leader of the Pamunkey Indians. A successor of the famed chief Powhatan, she was a strong force in maintaining peace between the natives of North America and the incoming
colonists from Europe. Her stories present the history of the region through a fictitious meeting between herself and the younger members of her tribe. Focusing most of its attention on Jamestown, the book is one of the first histories of the settlement from a non-European perspective. It will give children a sense of history that is lacking in most contemporary texts. From the struggles against colonization to the personal triumphs for peace, When the Great Canoes Came is exciting, nail-biting, and enlightening. Suitable as a supplementary text for American history classes or simply for the enjoyment of a good story, Cockacoeske's adventurous tales will capture the imaginations of children.

Back Jacket

Lost Owl is at the age that his Pamunkey ancestors had their huskenaw-- when the young Indian boys would go into the forest with the priests for months to be tested for courage and endurance, to learn the laws of their people, and to return as men. Now, years after the English settlement of Jamestown, Lost Owl and his friends have only the wise lore of the Indian queen, Cockacoeske, to teach them of their heritage. Her stories describe the days before and after the arrival of the European settlers, detailing the history of the Indian tribes of Virginia from a native point of view beginning with "When the Great Canoes Came".

Author Biography

In her first childrenís book, Mary Louise Clifford took on an unusual challenge. While completing her master's in education at the College of William and Mary, an anthropologist asked her how she would explain the events surrounding the settlement of Jamestown if she were in one of the tribes affected by the English intrusion. Not being a Virginian Indian, she initially thought this would be an overwhelming task. Of course this was not as big a challenge as one would think. Clifford was used to working on the other side of the cultural fence. After graduating from Cornell, she joined the U.S. Foreign Service and was assigned to a post in Beirut. After marrying, she followed her husband, who worked for the United Nations. During their service, she and her family had been posted among many cultures in which they did not actively participate. Their travels took them to Pakistan, Malaysia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Western Samoa. Each station usually resulted in her writing a childrenís social studies book about the region. With this broad experience in understanding and relating to other cultures, Clifford began writing a fictionalized, though historically accurate, account of the early English exploration. At first, she found writing the book very intimidating, until she got a little help from her task master.