Indio

by Sherry Garland

Book Overview

An Indian girl struggles to survive a brutal time of change as Spaniards begin their conquest of indigenous cultures. In this beautifully written novel, Sherry Garland brings the late 1500s to life, chronicling the virtual extinction of the native Indio and the birth of the Mexican people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152000216
• ISBN13: 9780152000219
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.9"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Heartfelt, bittersweet

An excellent book for seventh and eighth graders that I used when I was teaching junior high. My students thoroughly enjoyed the drama and excitement, but were saddened by the outcome. Sherry Garland is a gifted writer with a knack for depicting diverse cultures. This is an even-handed, but unvarnished depiction of the Conquistador impact on Native Americans.... Kevin Rush, author of Earthquake Weather a Novel for Catholic

bittersweet

Sherry Garland's Indio tells the story of an Indian girl named Ipa-tah-chi and what eventually happens to the native indios in Southwest US and Mexico. One day, when she is fourteen, an Apache raid left her grandmother dead and her older brother taken hostage. Three years later, a group of white men with hair on their faces and strange animals arrive in the village, and they call themselves espanoles. Ipa meets a kindhearted espanol named Rodrigo, and even after the band of espanoles leave, she still remember's Rodrigo's kindness. Although they do not know each other's languages, Ipa and Rodrigo try to teach each other some words of their languages, and the exchanges are quite cute. Ipa receives a marriage offer from Coyomo, a handsome indio from another village, but on the day of their wedding, another group of espanoles come and destroys their happiness forever. The espanoles kill some indios and take the rest as slaves, including Ipa-tah-chi, her younger brother Kadoh, and her proud, beautiful cousin Xucate. They are all taken to a silver mine with a Christian missionary nearby, and the indios' lives are never the same again. Garland has done a good job, capturing the anguish the native indios felt in their last hundred years. The character that captures it the most is Xucate, with her bitter hatred of the Spanish. There are only fleeting moments of happiness, ie: when Ipa spends time with the kind Rodrigo. Later, Xucate is raped, symbolizing the extinction of the indios and the painful birth of the Mexican race (Indian/Spanish mix). Although Ipa survives and will have a brighter future in Mexico, her "happy" ending is bittersweet.

A wonderful, book yet sad and full of meaning

Indio was a wonderful book. Ipa and her cousin go through many emotional and cultuarl experiences. Eventhough Ipa-tah-chi has so much taken away she still holds on to the hope her villiage will survive and thet everything will go back to normal. It tells another side of the story when the Spanish conquistadores invaded the American south-west. I love how it does'nt put anything in softer terms. It tells how Xucate (ipa's cousin ) was treated by the head of the miners. He raped her. You learn that the history books do not tell how the natives were treated terribly in the 15th & 16th centurys. Well I recommend this book to 12-16 year-olds. It is truly worthy of five stars.

when read this book you will love it!!!

when read this book,I never knew that a book could be so compelling.It fast moving! I know you will love it!

Another MUST Read

This book will totally change the way men fel about women's rights. I could not stop myself from reading this book, i LOVED it!!!