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Reclaiming Mni Sota

6/22/2023

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Waabi is a Dakota living in the land his people call Mni Sota.  In 1850, the white settlers were part of Waabi's life for a while.  The settlers have asked to mine on the Dakota's land for resources in return for winter provisions.  One year, the government officials were late with the provisions, causing Waabi's father and many others to perish.  Waabi struggles with the changes happening around him, especially as the United States goes to War against itself.  Samuel Copeland and his family lived a peaceful life in Vermont, but after an injury to his father's leg, they go into debt.  When Samuel hears of free land in the new state of Minnesota, he convinces his family to relocate.  Living in Minnesota isn't as easy as the Copeland's imagined and tensions soon arise over resources with the settlers and the Dakota who never gave up their land.  As War rages between the North and South, another revolt is rising as the Ojibwe and Dakota combine forces to reclaim their land and attack Fort Snelling.  Together, Samuel and Waabi find a way to fight for a better future. 
 
Reclaiming Mni Sota is an alternate historical fiction story recounting the Dakota War of 1862.  The author is clearly passionate about this time period and while not a Native American himself, has put in a lot of effort into bringing their story to light and to think about what would have happened if the outcome of the war was flipped.  With alternating points of view of both Samuel, a white settler in Minnesota and Waabi, a Native Dakota, the struggle of both groups to survive with one another is apparent.  As the characters say, it is a war that was put in motion long before the men fighting were born.  Though from different backgrounds, Waabi and Samuel are both young men trying to find their way in a quickly changing world.  They both carry anger and grief from incidents stemming from interactions with the other's culture.  However, they both find killing unfulfilling.  I was intrigued by Waabi and Samuel's alliance to fight for what they thought would help them move forward.  With an alternate ending to the war, with Mni Sota Makoce becoming a Sovereign Independent Nation, we are reminded of the ways we have come to own land and be stewards of that land as well as what land ownership means in modern times. 
 
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 
 

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Caravans in the Dark

6/15/2023

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Jana is a young Romani girl travelling through Czechoslovakia in 1939. Her family has noticed the increasing presence of the German Army and their treatment of the people around them. Jana's family decides to stay in Prague with their extended family, just ahead of the Nazi invasion. Jana finds a job at a castle where she notices secret messages being passed. Jana realizes that she can help and becomes part of the Resistance. Jana's cousins and his friend, Otto, Max and Albert are also trying to help other families and the Resistance, but soon their efforts will cause problems too close to home.

Caravans in the Dark is a World War II novel written from the Romani point of view, a group who was equally abused by Hitler's policies and was meant to be eradicated under his regime. Through Jana's family, we see a bit into the Romani lifestyle and the abuses and stereotypes they suffered. I enjoyed Jana's character, her willful and courageous spirit and willingness to help despite the danger was amazing for a fifteen year old. The story also reveals the pride of the Czech people as they resist the pending Nazi occupation of their land. Told from multiple points of view, there is a full breadth of the Resistance efforts happening; Jana, Otto, Max are Romani helping to smuggle messages and people, Albert a friend of the Romani and a Czech helping Otto and Max and Franz, a sympathetic Nazi soldier. While I was invested in Jana's story and their efforts to help families and get messages out, I didn't feel a strong sense of suspense or association between all of the events, they just happened. The ending was also strong, but abrupt and I really wanted to know what happened with the family through the war since the story is set in the very beginning.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

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