Cheyenne Again

By: Eve Bunting
(Bunting, Eve. Cheyenne Again. New York: Clarion Books, 1995)

As I read this particular multicultural picture book I was very intrigued by the issues being discussed. This book informs the reader of the hardships that Native Americans went through to become ‘more white’. This story is about a young Native American boy, Young Bull, who is sent away to attend an off-reservation Indian school. He is sent there to learn how to become ‘more white’ and to learn that his heritage and culture is not acceptable. It shows Young Bull having to live in a cold and lonely barracks. This is hard for him because he is used to a totally different living environment. Then it shows Young Bull getting his braids cut off by a white man because that is not how whites wear their hair. This is just another way of trying to conform this young by to be 'more white'. During the time that Young Bull is at school he is daydreaming of what it was like to be back on his reservation and how free he was. Young Bull is also exposed to church-life according to the whites. He is not used to this type of religion because his culture prays differently than the whites. Since Young Bull is not accepting of this new culture he tries to run away back to his reservation, but he gets caught and a ball and chain is locked to his ankle for a day. They say that this will enforce more discipline in Young Bull. As Young Bull continues his education one of his teachers tells him that he should never forget that he is Indian inside and that no one should be able to take away his memories. The story ends with Young Bull reminiscing about his heritage and culture and that someday he will be back on his reservation and will be Cheyenne again.

Reading this book really opened the eyes of the reader to things that were not known before. It is known that Native Americans were wrongfully abused by the whites however; most don't know the extent of it. At the end of the book there is an afterword written by the author. This information tells the reader that these off-reservation Indian boarding schools were very popular among the United States. It continued to give names of different schools that Native American children attended. These schools still exist today for Native American children. However, the schools aren’t as harsh and they tend to be more sensitive to the young people’s needs. They also encourage the children to embrace their Native American heritage.

This particular piece of multicultural literature did a nice job at informing the reader of issues that they may not have known. The afterword at the end of the book was very helpful for the reader, it is a good resource tool. It gives the reader more information about this particular issue and they can see that it actually exists in real life. This book does a nice job at getting the reader comfortable about talking about these issues. These issues can be raised and addressed in a classroom and children would have many things to say.