To the Discussion Leader
Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts-Rhode Island, 1653 is a departure from other books in the Royal Diary series. Here you won't find stories of castle intrigue, royal banquets and celebrations, and an emphasis on jewels and gowns. But like Marie Antoinette or Eleanore of Aquitaine or Mary, Queen of Scotts, Weetamoo is a girl who will grow up to lead her people. Native American author Patricia Clark Smith says this about her subject. "Weetamoo has been a hero of mine for a long time. I'm part Algonquin myself, of Micmac descent on both sides of my family. I grew up hearing tales of King Philip's War, the native rebellion Metacom and that Weetamoo led from 1675 to 1676, some twenty years after this story takes place."
Smith says, "Few people are aware that a nearly successful Native uprising against the English occurred in the early years of the New England colonies. Even fewer know that one of the leaders of that war was a woman. I was glad of the chance to imagine Weetamoo, her sisters, and her friends as young people, and think about what would have concerned them in their daily lives. As they grew older, relations between the New England natives and the English became more and more bitter, but it has been fascinating to write about a time when the Wampanoag and their neighbors were still keeping peace, even if it was an uneasy one."
Weetamoo's story presents young readers with an often-neglected perspective on the New England colonists, Plimoth settlement, religious beliefs, and love for the natural world.
Summary
"Please, Squant, grant me patience," prays thirteen-year-old Weetamoo, to the Being who watches over girls and women. It is 1653 in southern New England, and Weetamoo, daughter of the sachem (chief) of the Pocassets, has been ordered by her parents to spend some time each day reflecting on what she had said and done. Weetamoo knows she must prepare for the time when she will be sachem of her people, but she would rather be digging clams, snaring rabbits, and running races. Weetamoo looks forward to the harvest gathering when she will see her friend Cedar from the neighboring village as well as Wamsutta and Metacom, sons of Massasoit, the main sachem, although she says, "I do not like those boys." There are days of feasting and storytelling and an archery contest against Wamsutta. Weetamoo is very pleased with herself when she beats him!
As cold weather approaches, the people move inland to their winter village. Weetamoo's father makes a journey to Plimoth, home of the English colonists (Coat-men). Weetamoo, forbidden to accompany him, skulks behind. She spies on the Coat-men's village and is surprised when a Coat-woman greets her and gives her a gift of rosemary.
A large winter gathering brings everyone together again. It is a time for celebration and games, but also a time of sadness as Weetamoo's family learns that their frail baby Snowbird is gravely ill and no medicine will cure her.
Not long after, the Powwaw (medicine man) tells Weetamoo that it is time for her and Cedar's learning ceremonies. An intense three days follow, and both girls are changed by this experience. Each sees dreams or visions of what the future might be, and it worries and frightens them. Weetamoo says, "I used to think that this fasting time would be all about becoming splendid hunters and warriors and councillors, but I can see now I was wrong…It seems to be more about us learning sorrow." When Weetamoo asks the Powwaw what it all means, he tells her "It is all about keeping the fire alive." She wonders what he means.
After their ceremonies, Weetamoo and Cedar are included in the next deer hunt. Weetamoo has mixed feelings about it. "I should feel happy, but there is some heaviness in my heart. I cannot say what it is." Returning a week later, after a very successful hunt, Weetamoo learns that her baby sister Snowbird has died. The family is grief-stricken and deeply mourns the loss of "The One Who Went Away."
Spring comes, and all the people gather at the great waterfall, Exploding Rocks, for the annual fish-run. Many salmon are caught. Weetamoo sees Wamsutta, but now she feels quite differently about him. She recalls, "how handsome his uplifted chin, and how his dark eyes flash." Weetamoo realizes she cares for Wamsutta, and expresses her love for him. She says, "I think we both knew we would someday be married. Someday, not just yet."
Weetamoo and her family return to their seaside village and begin
to plant their crops. Mother is expecting a new baby in the fall,
and Weetamoo looks forward to "our new Forming Person" and a rich
corn harvest. She now understands the Powwaw's words, as she says,
"Planting corn and giving birth. Ruling our people well... It is
about keeping the fire going."
Thinking About the Book
1. What does Weetamoo mean? Why was she so named? Do you think she lives up to her name? Why or why not?
2. Weetamoo's father tells her that if she is to be a good leader she must "learn to walk more carefully through the world." What does he mean?
3. White settlers (the Coat-men) live near Weetamoo's village. How do these two groups feel about each other? What does Weetamoo observe when she spies on Plimoth Plantation? Why does she say on page 51, "How can one know who will give you sweet-smelling gifts, and who will be outrageously violent?" What is the sweet-smelling gift, and what is the violence?
4. Later, when Weetamoo returns to Plimoth, she gives the Coat-woman a gift. What does she give her and why?
5. Why does Cedar and Weetamoo's deer hunting experience end in disaster? What must Weetamoo do to atone for her lack of judgment?
6. What must Weetamoo and Cedar do for their "learning ceremony?" How does their ceremony differ from that of the young men? Tell what each part accomplishes for Weetamoo and Cedar: 1) sweating ceremony 2) fasting vigil.
7. What dreams/visions does Weetamoo see during her fasting vigil? How are they different from Cedar's dreams/visions?
8. What do you think the Powwaw means when he tells Weetamoo, "It is all about keeping the fire alive?"
9. Weetamoo is curious about the "marks" the Coat-men make on paper, but she would not accept their offer of reading and writing lessons? Why?
10. Read the epilogue to learn what happens to Weetamoo. How is her fate similar to the vision she had during her ceremony?
Student Activities
1. Weetamoo cannot write words so she makes pictures to help her "remember what a given day has brought." She drew her pictures on birch bark using a sharp stick blackened by fire. Try drawing a picture on a piece of bark using a blackened stick. How easy or difficult is it to draw a picture?
2. Weetamoo and her family enjoy storytelling sessions at the end of the day. Why is storytelling so important to Weetamoo's people? Which one of her stories do you like best and why? What favorite stories do you remember being told or read to you when you were younger? Why did you particularly like those stories?
3. Find out what these terms mean and share the information with your group:
cradleboard
Miles Standish
William Bradford
quahog
Hubbub
bloodroot
fowling piece
wampum
4. Weetamoo's father tells her of signs predicting a hard winter: thickness of a dog's fur and wide stripes on the wooly bear caterpillar. Do you know any weather signs or sayings? Ask some older family members or friends about weather signs and share them.
5. Weetamoo carries with her a special pouch in which she keeps her treasures (p. 49) What does she keep in her pouch? ry making a small bag for yourself in which to keep special objects. Use the pattern at the website below.
http://www.aokcorral.com/projects/how2jun2001.htm
6. Weetamoo's family uses wampum string and belts as money for trading. Go to
http://www.turtle-tracks.org/issue86/i86_9.html or http://www.nativetech.org/wampum/wamphist.htm
to learn more about wampum. What does the word wampum mean? What other facts did you find out about wampum?
An Interview with Patricia Clark Smith
Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D. & Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D.: In your collected biography As Long as the Rivers Flow, you profile nine Native Americans including Weetamoo. Was this profile of the Pocasset sachem the inspiration for the Royal Diary?
Patricia Clark Smith: In a way. I have long been fascinated with Weetamoo.
My co-author and I had to fuss a bit to get Weetamoo in our book
As Long as the Rivers Flow--there is so much already written about
Pocahontas and Sacagawea, but those are the women non-Indians keep
wanting to hear about! We won our case and our wonderful Scholastic
editor, Ann Reit, really liked that chapter. Ann suggested I propose
Weetamoo as a subject for the Royal Diaries series. I jumped at
Ann's suggestion, even though I knew doing a Royal Diary about Weetamoo
would present me with big-time problems, as you'll see below.
RFA & EST: Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets is unlike any of the other books you have written and, in fact, unlike any of the other Royal Diaries. What did you enjoy most about writing this book? Were there special problems you faced in writing this novel?
PCS: In some ways this book is unlike others I've written. But I see it very much as a piece of the other work that I have done. My two books of poetry tend to be pretty narrative-that is, the poems often relate stories. They are often about childhood and growing up in the natural world of rural New England. What I enjoyed most about the writing was the pleasure of reliving the progress of New England seasons from August through April.
The great challenge of this book was presenting a subject who didn't write or keep a diary in the ordinary sense of the Royal Diaries. This got me thinking about all kinds of "literacy"-oral history, pictographs, wampum belts, prayer, "reading" animal tracks, as well as the Wampanoag youngsters' curiosity about English writing. Another problem--or perhaps freedom--was that there is almost nothing known about Weetamoo's life prior to her marriage to
Wamsutta so I could (had to) invent a great deal.
RFA & EST: You mention that you are of Micmac descent on both sides of your family. Would you tell us a bit about the Micmacs?
PCS: The Micmac are an Algonquin-speaking group who live mostly in Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec (where my own Micmac ancestors come from). Though lots of Micmac live here in the United States, there is no reservation on this side of the border. They have a long-standing reputation as splendid woodsmen, hunters, fishermen, and sailors. Henry David Thoreau's guides in The Maine Woods are Penobscot and Micmac Indians.
There are stories of Micmacs capturing European sailing vessels and sailing them up and down the coast, jeering at the displaced crews. Right now there is a good deal of controversy in the United States and Canada about Micmac fishing and lobstering rights.
RFA & EST: How did reading your own girlhood diaries help you in writing Weetamoo's diary?
PCS: I was a much less focused 14-year-old than Weetamoo! It was surprising to look back and see how boy-crazy I was. In one entry I give equal weight to the Soviet Union launching Sputnik, the first space satellite, and this one boy smiling at me. But there are other entries where I catalogue all the wildflowers I spotted on one August day, or relate everything I saw on a ten-mile bike ride to a weedy lake where my girlfriends and I went skinny-dipping. Mostly what I took from reading my own diaries was what I think of as a grown-up voice starting to emerge from the chaotic and narcissistic jumble of a young girl trying to keep track of herself.
RFA & EST: What was the most interesting or unusual thing you learned from the research you did for this book?
PCS: I guess you could say I've been doing research for this book all my life. This may sound prosaic, but the main thing I learned was how hard people worked to live, just from day to day. Even when times were peaceful, it wasn't easy. It was fun to figure out what the tribe/family would be doing at any given season.
RFA & EST: In your dedication you tell of going to your son's home in Seattle where you finished Weetamoo's birchbark drawings? Did you actually make drawings on birchbark?
PCS: I didn't do the drawings on birchbark, nor did I try to, though I know in theory how it is done. I just drew in pen and ink, and imitated old pictures I've seen of birchbark drawings, such as in Charles G. Leland's Algonquin Legends, reprinted from the 1884 book by Dover in 1992.
I had a biology minor in college, and my favorite course was Animal Taxonomy and Ecology where we went on many field trips and learned to identify animal skulls, scat, and tracks, so my favorite drawing is on page 90…the one of the tracks the kids "read."
RFA & EST: There are many Native American words used in Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets. Tell us how you learned this language.
PCS: I'm flattered that you asked this question, but I do not know Wampanoag. I picked up words I needed from various publications from Plimoth Plantation and from Roger Williams' A Key Into the Languages of America. Our Wampanoag consultant, Edith Andrews, was a great help with Wampanoag words when I got them wrong.
Many more words than people generally realize have come into the English language from the incredibly varied native languages of North and South America. A great book readers might want to consult is Charles Cutler's O Brave New Words (Oklahoma University Press, 1994).
My favorite loan-word from Micmac, my own native language, is "moose," from téh'a móo seh ("he strips trees"). Micmac people called the moose téh-am for short, but Europeans heard the móo-seh part of it and used that.
RFA & EST: Storytelling is an integral part of Weetamoo's family. Who were the storytellers during your growing up years? What was your favorite story?
PCS: With Irish, French Canadian, and Micmac ancestry, ours is a very talky family. No one in my family was a storyteller in the traditional sense, but family stories, stories of immigration, the Depression, working in the Canadian woods, World War I and II, the McCarthy era-all were told.
My mom said my favorite story when I was little was, maddeningly, The Three Billy Goats Gruff with its endless triplet repetitions. Our parents read to my brothers and me every single night. While we weren't well off, we had the library and books were a usual present at Christmas and holidays. As a child I loved poetry even more than fiction, and I memorized it and wrote it from the time I was four. I knew one or two Micmac stories, but I didn't come into my full Native American heritage that way until I was an adult.
RFA & EST: If you could ask young readers of Weetamoo's diary one question after they finished the book, what would that question be?
PCS: Two questions, perhaps? First, how do you see Weetamoo changing and growing over the nine months of this story? Secondly, I'd ask has this book made you think any differently about Native Americans who lived during colonial times in New England?
RFA & EST: What would you like your readers to remember most about Weetamoo?
PCS: Like any writer, I wanted to bring to life a person, a time, a place. I hoped to show the full life and rich consciousness of a girl who would grow up to be a despised enemy of the New England colonists. I'd like my readers to remember Weetamoo's humanity, her feistiness, her loyalty to her family and her people, her curiosity, and her intelligence. If I had to choose one, I guess it would be her humanity.
Discussion Guide written by Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D., Professor of Literature for Children and Young Adults, University of Houston and Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D., Clinical Associate Professor, University of Houston, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Houston, Texas.
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