Formats: Print, digital
Publisher: The Roadrunner Press
Genre: Ghosts/Haunting, Historic Horror, Werebeast (Were-Panther/Nagual)
Audience: Children
Diversity: American Indian (Choctaw)
Takes Place in: Choctaw Nation, Mississippi, USA
Content Warnings: Animal Death, Child Abuse, Child Death, Child Endangerment, Death, Forced Captivity, Illness, Kidnapping, Oppression, Physical Abuse, Racism, Self-Harm, Torture, Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Violence (Highlight to view)
Blurb:
Told in the words of Isaac, a Choctaw boy who does not survive the Trail of Tears, HOW I BECAME A GHOST is a tale of innocence and resilience in the face of tragedy. From the book's opening line, "Maybe you have never read a book written by a ghost before," the reader is put on notice that this is no normal book. Isaac leads a remarkable foursome of Choctaw comrades: a tough-minded teenage girl, a shape-shifting panther boy, a lovable five-year-old ghost who only wants her mom and dad to be happy, and Isaac s talking dog, Jumper. The first in a trilogy, HOW I BECAME A GHOST thinly disguises an important and oft-overlooked piece of history. |
I was looking through the kid's section of the library (before I
get kicked out for being the creepy adult with no children) when
I stumbled upon Tim Tingle's How I Became a Ghost. The title
intrigued me, I'm always looking for books by minority authors, and I loved the
cover. Then I noticed the fine print: A Choctaw Trail of Tears
Story. Tingle's book is not a simple ghost story for
kids, but an important work of historical fiction about the horrors
of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which
illegally forced the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee from
their homes and resulted in the death of thousands of American Indians.
How I Became a Ghost is not a "fun" kind of scary story (though
there are plenty of humorous moments- more on that
later) where you can easily brush away your fear because you know it's a
work of pure fiction. The characters in the book may be fictional,
but this is still a book based on true events, that caused a great
deal of death, suffering, and the loss of ancestral homeland.
The first half of the book is based on the real-life experiences
of John Carnes, Tingle's great-great-grandfather, who was forced to
walk the Trail of Tears along with his family and lost his mother and
brother to exposure and disease during their forced relocation. Tingle first
recorded his account of Carnes' life in the short story Trail of
Tears for his anthology book, Walking the Choctaw Road, and
would later use it as inspiration for writing How I Became a
Ghost.
Tingle doesn't shy away from
descriptions of the Choctaw people cutting their flesh in mourning, being
burned alive in their homes, dying from small pox infected blankets, and
of course, children dying. Pretty rough stuff, but I think kids can handle it,
Tingle does a great job of educating his audience about the Trail of Tears,
while still keeping the content age appropriate. And as Shelley A. Welch, an
Eastern Cherokee woman, wrote in her guest post for the blog American
Indians in Children's Literature: "Some teachers will say
that historical realities are too heavy for young children. Actually, it seems
to be the adults that shy away from those topics .... who don’t seem to want to
let go of American myths of ‘friendship and good will’ between the first
settlers and the Indigenous people, a People who were once the majority and are
now the smallest minority.... I can say that when children are told that one
group bullied another, they are quite amazing peacemakers, acknowledging the
breach of civil rights and offering cooperative resolutions. It is true,
elementary-aged students aren’t developmentally ready for the specifics of
genocide, but they can understand the inhumanity of racism. " In
other words, this book is loads better for children than all those Thanksgiving
stories that
propagate the lie of the "smiling
(Wampanoag) Indian". For kids who would
prefer a non-fictional account of the Trail of Tears, there's also
Joseph Bruchac's (author of Skeleton
Man) children's
book that he wrote for the Step-Into-Reading series.
But I think there's something to be gained from reading a more personal (albeit
fictional) account when learning about history. How I Became a Ghost also
educates readers about Choctaw (Chahta)
culture, spirituality, vocabulary, and even has a ghostly cameo from Chief Pushmataha.
How I Became a Ghost is posthumously narrated by a ten-year-old Choctaw boy named
Isaac. Isaac frequently brings up his impending death, so you spend the first
two thirds of the story on edge, wondering when his time will come. At
first, he's plagued by visions of other Choctaw people dying, but
eventually Isaac comes to terms with his own mortality and seems to accept it,
though he does worry about how his family will react. I guess when you're
surrounded by death and you know the end is coming you start to feel pretty
chill about the whole thing. There are plenty of scary moments for horror
lovers, a teenage girl being abused by soldiers then hiding in the bonepickers'
wagon, under a pile of bloody bones, stands out in particular.
For a story that's written so simply (to make it easy for young
readers) How I Became a Ghost leaves quite the impact.
Something about the plain, straightforward way Isaac describes the trail of
bloody footprints he leaves behind or the parents carrying their dead child
really stays with you. Not everything is dark and depressing however, Tingle
adds plenty of humor and hope to his book, like Isaac's father pretending
to be a snow monster and playfully chasing his sons, the other family they
befriend on the Trail of Tears, and one of the Choctaw elders
teasing Isaac for his clumsiness as a ghost. As a bonus, these
scenes also shatter the myth of the "humorless, serious Indian"
that's frequently perpetuated by Euro-American media. I never felt like I was
reading a "sad" story, more a story of survival. The ending of
Isaac's life, while tragic, is not the end of his spirit, and he continues
to help and guide his friends and family as a ghost. When he dies, Isaac
is cheerfully welcomed into the afterlife by the other spirits (shilombish)
who continue to watch over their loved ones. Like the Choctaw
Nation, Isaac continues to persevere, albeit in a different form,
despite all he has suffered and lost.
I do have a few nitpicks, because of course I do, but
they're all pretty minor. Isaac's cause of death felt like a
really odd choice to me. *Spoilers* He's killed by a wolf, even though
wolves killing humans are extremely rare, and even then almost always carried out by a pack of
wolves rather than a lone individual. In other words, Isaac would have had a
greater chance of being killed by a lightning strike than a wolf attack. So why not have him die another, less improbable way? *End Spoilers* The whole
thing seemed random and highly unlikely, though Tingle may have just
chosen to take artistic license for the sake of the plot. Isacc's dog, Jumper,
also confused me. He seemed to be able to speak, but it wasn't clear if Jumper
could actually talk, or if Isaac just imagined his responses, like I
do with my cats (don't judge me). I think it's the latter,
since no one else appears to be able to "hear" Jumper, but
it's never really explained. So, there's just this random talking dog that
doesn't really serve a purpose story-wise except to be adorable (not that
I'm going to complain about a good dog, dogs make everything better).
Cats are jerks. |
Sorry, I went off on a weird tangent there...
I get really caught up on weird details, you'd think I'd be more concerned about the panther reading over my shoulder, but nope. |
The writing may feel a little childish for adults and older
readers, and not necessarily something I'd recommend for people in that age
group (instead I'd suggest Tingle's original Trail of
Tears story, which is similar to How I Became a Ghost, but
aimed at older readers and non-fictional), but kids will definitely get a
kick out of the story and the epic rescue mission staged by Issac and
his panther friend, and it will hopefully pique their interest in history and
the Choctaw Nation. I know I'll certainly be interested in checking out the
sequel, When A Ghost Talks, Listen, when it's released.
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