KIDS’ BOOK ICON: An award-winning author, poet, novelist, and storyteller, Bruchac has been a major name in children’s books for more than 40 years. His books have sold more than 750,000 copies, and he is most known for classics such as Code Talker, The Trail of Tears, Squanto’s Journey, Eagle Song, Skeleton Man, Children of the Longhouse, and Sacajawea.
INDIGENOUS HISTORY: Native American content is still scarce in children’s books, and Of All Tribes sheds light on a pivotal event in the story of modern Indigenous peoples in the United States.
ACTIVISM ANGLE: Prompting readers to rethink history critically and stand against injustice while modeling nonviolent resistance, this book is on-message with other kids’ books on activism, a popular topic.
CLASSROOM APPEAL: Bruchac’s masterful writing, meticulous research, and unique perspective make this a compelling read for history curricula.
ABRAMS TRACK: In two starred reviews, One Real American was called “essential reading” and received praise for how it “dispels myths about Native Americans within the context of US history.”
In Of All Tribes, Abenaki children’s book icon Joseph Bruchac tells the stirring history of the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans, which established a precedent for Indian activism.
“Alcatraz is not an island. It’s an idea.” —activist Richard Oakes (Akwesasne Mohawk)
On the night of November 20, 1969—the end of one of the most tumultuous decades in American history—eighty-nine young Native American activists crossed the San Francisco Bay under cover of darkness, calling themselves the “Indians of All Tribes.” Their objective? To claim the former prison island of Alcatraz, basing their actions on an 1868 treaty that said abandoned federal land could be returned to Indigenous peoples.
Taking a stand on an island reclaimed as “Indian Land,” these peaceful protestors brought worldwide attention to the issues facing present-day Native Americans, as well as the centuries of unjust federal Indian policy. From award-winning Abenaki author Joseph Bruchac, Of All Tribes is the riveting story of the occupation that ignited the modern American Indian Movement and inspired activists everywhere.
