Additional information
by Ednah New Rider Weber (Author), Richela Renkun (Photographer)
A true account of a spirited Native American girl's experiences growing up on a reservation and attending Phoenix Indian School in the 1920s, written in an engaging, unconventional style and accompanied by 38 dramatic photographs.
After her beloved Grandmother dies, EdNah, a seven-year-old Pawnee girl, goes to live with a father she hardly knows on a Navajo reservation miles away. Heartbroken but resilient, she begins to create a new life for herself in this unfamiliar place.
Just as EdNah starts to feel at home in her new surroundings, she is sent away to a strict government-run Indian school. With her world turned upside down once again, EdNah must learn to rely on herself and her newfound community of friends.
Told in the unconventional voice of a seasoned storyteller, Rattlesnake Mesa is a true account of a girl coming-of-age during a complex time in America's past. Both heartbreaking and humorous, you will be moved to tears and laughter as you experience EdNah's spirited celebration of life as a healing.
Front Jacket
After the death of the beloved grandmother who raised her, seven-year EdNah goes to live with a father she hardly knows on a reservation miles away. Just as she begins to feel at home in this unfamiliar place, EdNah is sent by her father to an off-reservation Indian Boarding School.
At boarding school EdNah and other Native American children are forced to abandon their Indian culture and traditions and adapt to a rigorous schedule of schooling, religious indoctrination, and vocational training. Everything is new and strange. Again faced with adversity, EdNah learns, through heartache and humor, to rely on herself and her community of newfound friends.
Returning to the reservation after her first year at school, EdNah can more deeply appreciate the world she left behind her people including the father who sent her away. Told squarely from the child's point of view, EdNah's story will captivate readers and quickly draw them into the circle of her life.
Author Biography
EdNah New Rider Weber "Wolf Clan Woman," is a respected Native American elder and storyteller. She was born into the Skidi band of the Pawnee Nation and raised on the Crown Point Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Weber has traveled all over the United States sharing stories of her childhood and life. She is also a gifted beadworker whose work has been recognized internationally and is featured in Lois Sherr Dubin's preeminent North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment. Weber lives with her family in Tucson, Arizona.
Richela Renkun is a graduate of New York University, where she majored in the performing arts. She brings her film and theater background to her photographic storytelling. Photographing Native American subjects holds a special place in Renkun's heart, and she has been honored by the Lakota with her own Indian name, "Loves Her Horses Woman." Renkun lives with her family and their horses in Vermont.
