Silver medal winner of the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award, Mascot tells the fictional story of a class of 8th grade middle school students in an advanced English class who are grappling with the school's mascot - an "Indian Brave". Not a new topic, of course, but one I don't see a lot in the books I read. In fact, Native American perspectives are still pretty hard to find in teen and young adult literature, although Joseph Bruchac has been writing some great books for years, and newer authors, like Eric Gansworth, are adding some newer books as well.
Mascot takes place at Rye Middle School near Washington D.C., and real world mascots like the Redskins (now the Commanders), the Atlanta Braves, and many lesser-known mascots around the country are referred to in the story. Authors Waters and Sorell do a nice job of presenting many different takes on whether mascots such as "Braves" are discriminatory and hurtful or honoring cultures such as Native Americans.
What I thought they missed was that their characters seem to old for the actions and thoughts throughout the story. If the students in this story were in high school, I would have liked this much more. I know it's a small difference, but when the story mentions that a character was looking forward to high school, I had to reset my thinking, because the messages in the book seemed a little too mature for middle school. Not that middle school students are immature - I don't think that! But the ideas that are explored in Mascot fit better with slightly older teens, in my opinion.
I also thought a few of the viewpoints presented, and there are several, were a little too "easy". The authors tried to muddy them up a little, but mostly the opinions were pretty black and white, not grey, like I think they are in the real world. But these didn't take away from the story totally! It is a good book, and one that you should read, if for no other reason than to examine your take on the issues surrounding mascots. Are they discrimination? Racist? Or tradition? Good questions. A good book.
3 paws and a wag!
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