Morning Girl

Morning Girl, a historical fiction book written by Michael Dorris, is told from the perspective of a brother and sister. The girl’s name is Morning Girl and her brother is Star Boy. The characters take turns describing their days in 1492 in alternating chapters. The book ends when Morning Girl sees some of Christopher Columbus’ men landing on her island. She tries to greet them and then runs home to get her parents and other villagers to meet them. The book then ends with a letter written by Columbus, presumably to the King, telling him about the people he has met on the island. He says that the people will make good servants and be easily converted to Christianity. The book ends here, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions, drawing from what they know about history.

Because of how it ties in with history, this would be a great book to have students read while they are learning about explorers. It offers a non-European point of view on the topic, which is necessary. I thought this different point of view was the most interesting part of the book. This came into play the most at the very end, when Morning Girl is describing the men she sees. She tries to be friendly and thinks that it will be a great day with lots of feasting and sharing of gifts. She is not afraid of them, instead, she thinks “What a backward, distant island they must have come from” (69). This is so interesting because that is exactly what we have learned in school that people other than us are: backward and distant. I loved reading her description of the men and how they had “wrapped every part of their bodies with colorful leaves and cotton. Some had decorated their faces with fur and wore shiny rocks on their heads” (69). It is easy to recognize that these men are wearing clothes and hats, and some had beards, but all of these ideas are foreign to Morning Girl.

I wish that the book had had more closure, but the point of it clearly is to allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. I would love to learn more about the Taino people living in the Bahamas before Columbus. Does their culture still survive, or were they relocated or wiped out by Columbus? What was, or is, their culture like?