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BRUCHAC, JOSEPH. DAWNLAND. A NOVEL. GOLDEN, CO: FULCRUM PUBLISHING, 1993. XV + 217 PP. $19.95 CLOTH.
In Dawnland, Joseph Bruchac presents a novelized version of Abenaki traditional stories. The novel chronicles and portrays life, as it was about ten thousand years ago, for the Only People from the Green Mountains. The legendary characters leap to life through detailed events and ardent portrayals of unforgettable personalities. This book is a fascinating journey into the world of the dreamtime, the world of the Only People, as the People of the Dawnland lived before the European invasion.
The reader is deftly pulled into witnessing ecologically sound Dawnland through the Only People's cultural perspective. The reader sympathizes as we follow Young Hunter through his early life, as though he was our own younger brother--with relation:
Young Hunter smiled as he remembered. It reminded him of how much he loved his grandparents. It was because of that love that he offered himself to be a pure hunter. But to do it properly, his thoughts had to be focused on the task ahead.
He begins his journey with the aid of Bear Talker, who envisions an ominous force coming upon the People. Young Hunter, bitten by a Brave One, is chosen to protect the people and leaves his Grandparents, his beloved Willow Girl, and his homeland to embark upon...