Malian's Song (The Family Heritage Series)

Malian's Song (The Family Heritage Series) by Bruchac, Margaret M.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780916718268.

Young Malian lives contentedly with her parents and extended family in an Abenaki village near Montreal in the mid-eighteenth century. One night, Malians life changes abruptly. Silently, her father carries her off to the woods, blanket and all, and orders her to run to their tribes winter camp. Malian obeys, but not before she turns to watch her father slip back to the village through the trees. She never sees him again. Malians Song is based on the true story of a deliberate attack by English Major Robert Rogers on Quebecs St. Francis Abenaki community in 1759. Malians account of "Rogerss Raid," passed down through generations of Abenaki oral tradition, reveals that many Abenaki people survived the attack that destroyed their village, in direct contrast to Rogerss journal accounts. Jeanne Brink, a descendant of Malian living in Vermont, told the Vermont Folklife Center the little-known Abenaki version of the brutal attack. In this first Abenaki and English picture book, preeminent Abenaki historian Marge Bruchac and illustrator William Maughan portray Malians story of a peoples strength and fortitude in the face of unspeakable loss.