Talking Leaves, by Joseph Bruchac

 

History comes alive through the characters in Joseph Bruchac’s novel Talking Leaves. Young Uwohali is both curious and nervous to learn why his father Sequoyah is believed by the community to be crazy--even involved in witchcraft. Uwohali knows that his mother, Sequoyah’s first wife, banished Sequoyah from living with her and their son, deepening the mystery of his absence. He also knows his father has been seen relentlessly drawing unusual symbols—on the ground and indeed everywhere he goes. This engaging story slowly reveals to Uwohali the reason that compels Sequoyah to keep drawing odd symbols. Through his dealings with the white men encroaching on native land, bargaining, and offering new tools and methods of farming, Sequoyah observed first hand that the ability to read and speak English was an invaluable asset to trade and everyday life. Thus Sequoyah wondered: would not such an alphabet for Cherokee, the spoken language that is ours, enhance our people’s ability to communicate, to share and to store knowledge? Do we not need a written Cherokee language? Uwohali tracks his father to his new home, where he lives with his second wife and daughter. Summoning the courage to approach his father, he finds out more about Sequoyah’s unusual project. He comes to understand the power of Sequoyah’s invented syllabary when he sees that his younger sister Ahyokah can actually read his father’s symbols. It is an alphabet of sorts, with a symbol for each syllable in Cherokee spoken language. When Uwohali’s skeptical friends and then, importantly, the village chief become convinced that the symbols can indeed be read, word spreads quickly that Sequoyah has done something wonderful. Readers learn about the significant invention of a written Cherokee language—a true event that inspired the development of written languages in numerous oral cultures around the world. Readers will sympathize with the range of Uwohali’s feelings as he comes to know his father and understand the revolutionary work to which he is dedicated. Notes at the book’s end specify the meanings of the Cherokee syllabary, provide further readings, and place this important event in its historical context. Ages 10-13. Dial Books, 2016; Puffin Books, 2017.

Abenaki author Joseph Bruchac has also written two books (a picture book and a novel) about the Navajo men who, as U. S. Marines, used Navajo code as a secret language in World War II: https://onehundredmorebooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/when-chester-nez-was-eight-years-old-he.html