Rain is Not My Indian Name

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Smith, Cynthia Leitich. 2001. RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books. ISBN 0688173977.

PLOT SUMMARY
Right before her fourteenth birthday Cassidy Rain Berghoff realizes she has romantic feelings for her best friend Galen. After a wonderful night with Galen she wakes up the next morning to learn that he was killed on his way home from her house the night before. For six months she isolates herself from her friends and family. Only when she is asked to take pictures of local Indian Camp does she begin to deal with her feelings and reconnect with her heritage.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
This is story gives us a contemporary view of Native Americans. It is mentioned in different places throughout the book that Rain is proficient with technology, enjoys reading and is on the honor roll at school. This is a positive example of a love of learning in a culture that has low high school graduation rates. The journal entries at the beginning of each chapter give the reader more information about Rain’s life and family. One entry tells us that she is Muscogee Creek-Cherokee on her mom’s side and Ojibway on her dad’s side. Instead of grouping all Native Americans into one culture, this book gives specific names and even gives some traditions of each culture.

The names of the characters in this book are not Native American cultural markers. Galen, Cassidy, Fynn, Dmitri and Marie are not names specific to Native Americans. The only name that is explained as significant to the Native American culture is Aiyana which is Cherokee for “forever flowering.”

Rain struggles at times with deciding whether or not she wants to claim her Indian heritage. When given an assignment to dress like an important person Rain originally wants to dress as Sacajawea or Pocahontas, but ends up choosing Nancy Kassebaum, a former senator. I think there are a lot of teenagers that can relate to her struggle to want to represent her heritage but also being fearful of getting made fun of by representing her Native American heritage.

When thinking about whether or not to attend Indian Camp, Rain thinks about how it feels to be an Indian in Hannesburg and wonders if it has something to do with the way the schools teach about Indians. One quote in particular from this book gives us an insider’s perspective on teaching the traditional Thanksgiving story. “At school the subject of Native Americans pretty much comes up just around Turkey Day…the so-called Indians always look like bogeymen on the prairie.” It seems this unauthentic representation embarrasses Rain and makes her feel like an outsider in her own town.

One part of this book made me think about how we ask others about their heritage. Rain says that people ask her “How much Indian are you?” and “Are you legally Indian?” She then goes on to say when Native people ask her about her heritage they ask more specific questions about tribal affiliation. She also says that a lot of people tell her “You don’t seem very Indian.” This obviously upsets her, but then later on in the book she catches herself about to tell the Flash, “You don’t seem very Jewish.” I would assume that most people are just trying to get to know her, but this shows us that it is important to be mindful of how your words sound when you are asking people about their heritage.

One part of this story that relates to others outside the Native American culture is having to deal with the grief of losing a best friend or loved one. It is important for teenagers to know that everyone deals with grief in different ways and this is just Rain chose to deal with losing her best friend.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: " Multiple plot lines and nonlinear storytelling may make it difficult to enter Smith's (Jingle Dancer) complex novel, but the warmth and texture of the writing eventually serve as ample reward for readers... readers will feel the affection of Rain's loose-knit family and admire the way that they, like the author with the audience, allow Rain to draw her own conclusions about who she is and what her heritage means to her."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "There is a surprising amount of humor in this tender novel. It is one of the best portrayals around of kids whose heritage is mixed but still very important in their lives. A wonderful novel of a present-day teen and her "patchwork tribe."

CONNECTIONS
-Have students research their heritage and report back to the class.
-Have students research different Native American tribes and their cultures.
-Read with a group of students who are dealing with the grief of losing a loved one.