The Warriors

  • Interest Level: Grade 4 - Grade 6
  • Reading Level: Grade 5

When twelve-year-old Jake Forrest’s mother gets a job in a new city, everything changes. He has to move away from the Iroquois reservation he’s lived on his entire life—away from his aunt and uncle, and away from the friends he plays lacrosse with. The lacrosse coach and players at his new school in Washington, D.C., believe that winning is everything, and they don’t know anything about the ways of his people. As Jake struggles to find a place where he truly belongs, tragedy strikes and he must find out who he really is. Can he find courage to face the warrior within—the warrior who values peace and leads other to more noble pursuits than outscoring the opposition?

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978-1-58196-022-8
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978-1-4677-6792-7
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Interest Level Grade 4 - Grade 6
Reading Level Grade 5
Category Diverse Books: Race & Ethnicity, Diversity, SEL: B Self-Management, SEL: D Relationship Skills, Social Emotional Learning
Copyright 2003
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Books ®
Language English
Number of Pages 128
Publication Date 2004-08-01
Text Type Fiction
BISACS JUV032000, JUV044000
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.5 x 7.3125
Lexile 810
ATOS Reading Level 5.5
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 69955
Accelerated Reader® Points 3.0
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Awards, and Reviewed

Author: Joseph Bruchac

Joseph Bruchac was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, and grew up in the Adirondack foothills. He began to take an interest in his Abenaki heritage when he was a teenager. Mr. Bruchac has written many books, poems, plays, and short stories—most of which include tales, characters, and teachings from his Native American roots. Performing as a storyteller allows him another way to preserve his Abenaki culture.

Awards

  • Nutmeg Award, Winner, 2003
  • Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards Master List, Long-listed, 2003
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2003
  • ILA Teacher's Choices, Winner, 2003

Reviews

Booklist

“Gr. 5-8. Jake, who grew up on an Algonquin Indian reservation, becomes a lacrosse star at his highbrow Washington, D.C., boarding school. Following a school shooting, he organizes an all-school game to help his classmates cope with the tragedy. A thought-provoking novel about the place of sports in society. Selected as one of the Top 10 Youth Sports Books by Booklist ‘The lives of athletes’ can be an excellent introduction to cultural history. Included in the list of noteworthy sports books below, all reviewed in Booklist between September 2003 and August 2004, are several picture-book biographies of legends who overcame dramatic racial and gender prejudice to become groundbreaking sports stars. Whether young people are browsing for action photos, researching a school project, or looking for an inspiring story of an athletic hero, they’ll find something of interest below.”
Booklist

Reading Teacher

“The author shares the richness of the Native American culture through storeis and the game of lacrosse.”
The Reading Teacher