This was a re-read for me, after opening a box of long-stored paperbacks. I remembered that I had liked it (years and years ago), but not really anything about the story.

Not everything can stand a re-read, but I still really enjoyed this story. The main character (Helen, later renamed Tejanita) is a woman who was kidnapped by Comanches as a child. At first she hates the people who killed her family and captured herself and her little sister, but over the many years of her captivity she grows to care for her adopted family and respect the ways of the Comanches, or as they call themselves, the People.

The trope of the captured white woman has been done to death, but Capps never strays into the awful romantic noble savage stereotype. He consistently portrays the girls (later women) and the Indians as real people with their own believable personalities. Family members squabble, laugh, and help each other. The Indians are sometimes cruel, sometimes kind, and always believable representatives of their life and times. Helen/Tejanita goes from being a frightened, angry child to a mature woman struggling with her identity. ( )

When she is only nine years old, the small homestead where Helen lives with her family on the edge of the frontier is attacked by a Comanche band. Helen and her little sister are taken captives. At first they fear for their lives, but are sold as slaves into different families within the band. Helen wants to escape but soon realizes how hopeless this is as they travel farther away from white settlements. She steels herself to make the best of her situation, to appear compliant so she can gain the trust of the Comanches and take an opportunity in the future. Helen gradually learns the language and customs of the band. She comes to be treated more as a family member than a slave. She watches her sister grow up among the native children- too young to remember her origins. As the years pass, opportunities present themselves for her escape, but Helen hesitates each time... until at last she finds she is completely assimilated into the tribe, no longer sure she even wants to escape.

I was surprised at how much I liked this story, even though the writing is rather straightforward and the timeline passes quickly... there are a few brutal scenes that were difficult to read. Helen finds that the Comanches are not 'dumb savages' as her father's folk used to say- but neither are they all kindness. They have their own prejudices against other tribes and torture captives. Larger events pass by and Helen hears rumors of warfare among the whites- later they notice the wildlife is diminishing in certain areas and acting strangely in others. They hear even worse rumors of other tribes being forced to leave their land by "treaties" made with the whites. Helen never dreams that these rumors will affect the life she has come to know.

Mostly it is a story of everyday life among ordinary people. The family relationships, the daily work for food and shelter, their travels to different parts of the territory at various times of year, their interactions with other tribes. The games that children play, the stories they tell. One of the more interesting characters I thought was the medicine man- how his standing among the tribe began to slip and how that affected his son who was coming of age. Also a shift in leadership. And Helen's own act of bravery when she saw all their work for winter food being despoiled by a warrior from a rival tribe . . .

A very good story, one that has me looking for other books by the same author.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

recommended for: interests: Native Americans, children, historical fiction - for ages about 9 & up

This was one of my favorite books the year I was 12. (My very favorite - from age 12 on - was probably To Kill A Mockingbird.) The book was a Christmas present that year. I reread it multiple times, and have reread it periodically over the years.

It was unique for its time, of telling a story about Native Americans where they weren’t portrayed as perfect or as evil, but simply as human beings.

I still have my original very worn copy. Just checked and it is in print and that's great because it’s a terrific story.

It’s about a nine year old girl and her five year old sister and how, after their family is killed by members of a tribe of Comanche Indians, they’re kidnapped and adopted as members by different families in the tribe. The story is told from the older girl’s viewpoint. It’s a real epic as her story, and that of the tribe, is followed well into her early adulthood. Both the characters and plot are very well developed in this book.

It’s the book that sparked my interest in Native American history. ( )