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Two Sides to Every Story

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There are two sides to every story, and Regina Leininger experienced the conflicts between Indians and white settlers from both perspectives. In I am Regina (Philomel Books, 1991), author Sally M. Keehn presents a fictionalized account of one girl's Indian captivity based on the true story of Regina Leininger. Ten-year-old Regina's journey begins on her family farm in Pennsylvania in 1755. She lives a comfortable life, but the threat of attacking Indians constantly looms in Regina's mind. She takes comfort in the safety and security offered by her family, by the big Bible that Father reads from, and by the hymns Mother sings. Then one day, two Indians come to the family's home. The Indians kill Regina's father and one of her brothers and take Regina and her sister, Barbara, as prisoners. Regina is soon parted from her sister, but finds companionship in another prisoner, a toddler she names Sarah. Taking on the role of parent to the little girl, Regina sings Mother's hymns and tells stories from Father's Bible to the little girl during their hard journey to Ohio. Their Indian captor, Tiger Claw, takes them to his village, where both girls are adopted into the community and into Tiger Claw's family. Living is hard in the Indian village, but as the years pass, Regina adjusts to her new way of life. As conditions worsen for her Indian community, Regina's loyalties are torn between the life she once knew and the community of Indian villagers she has come to appreciate. Told in beautifully descriptive language, I am Regina paints a portrait of life among white settlers and Native Americans that portrays kindness and cruelty on both sides. Regina reaches no easy conclusions about her dual citizenship in the two cultures. I am Regina is the story of one girl's struggles to fit in to a new culture without losing her identity, but it is also the story of the demise of one native community in the rise of a new country.

An engaging story

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German immigrant Regina and her family have settled into Pennsylvania in 1755 in Sally M. Keehn's, I Am Regina. Regina finds herself orphaned after Indians attack and kill her brother and father after her mother and other brother have gone to the mill. She and her sister, Barbara are kidnapped from their home, along with the other children from their village, so that the Indians can adopt them. The two sisters are separated and Regina, along with a little girl she has named Sarah, are forced to follow the cruel Tiger Claw to his village. Once there, the girls are reassigned new names and punished if they act in a way in what the tribe views as white. Regina, now referred to as "Tskinnak", and Sarah, who becomes "Quetit," slowly become a part of their tribe until one day the lines become blurred, and Tskinnak can no longer remember who she once was. Though Regina's father and brother are killed within the opening scenes of the novel, the story is a bit slow to start as Regina merely recounts the events in a journalistic fashion. Rough transitions from flashback to present once they are captured also hinder the flow of the story, but everything picks up a fourth of the way into the novel when Barbara attempts to save everyone. A few of the important events are also glossed over, such as Regina becoming fluent in a new language and Regina's emotions after her father and brother's deaths reads almost mechanical. Readers interested in Native American culture will be particularly impressed with this novel, as Keehn has done her research and manages to present both sides of the struggle between the Indians and the English. Ultimately, I am Regina is about a young girl who loses her identity, gains a new one in a different culture, and is then forced to reclaim her childhood, which all makes for an engaging story.

A Gripping True Tale

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I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn (Puffin, 1991) begins in 1755 Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where young Regina is a happy, normal girl living with her sister, brothers, mother and father. Her world is turned upside down when Indians enter their home and kill her brother and father. The Indians kidnap Regina and her sister Barbara. Only her brother John and her mother are safe, for they have gone off to town. They are soon separated, and Regina is dragged off to an impoverished Indian camp. At first, Regina resists, angry and full of hatred for the people who killed her father and brother. Regina is renamed Tskinnak and treated like a slave. She struggles to hold on to her memories of home and forget the gruesome murders of her father and brother. As she becomes more accustomed to the Indian ways, she must force herself to remember passages from the Bible. Eventually, Tskinnak can no longer recall her past life or speak English. She is an Indian, a daughter to an Indian woman and a sister to Quetit, a young girl kidnapped at the same time she was. So, when the French Indian war ends and they are taken back to meet their families, Tskinnak is torn between her Indian family and a mother she can barely remember from her past. Who will Tskinnak chose? Based on the true story of 10-year-old Regina Leininger, this book is historically accurate and sensitive. It makes great reading material for middle-schoolers interested in history. Although the novel can be slow at times, getting to the end is worth the wait, as Tskinnak's story is completed and the reader will be satisfied with the conclusion.

Never Gets Old

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I picked up this book when I was 12/13 (for some reason I want to say I was younger) on one of my family's trips to Barnes and Noble. Once a week I'd pick out a new book to read and from the time I picked up this book it has been one of my all time favorites. I'm 21 now and still love it, I have reread it numerous times. Some of the other reviewers on here seem to think it's increadibly graphic for the age group but when most families live in different rooms with each a tv I think I would much rather have my child read a book with an inspiring storyline than a gory cop show or playing shootem up video games! Most young adult novels now adays share adult themes. When I was 15 I watched the Grapes of Wrath in a History class and I KNOW that is an adult book. People need to give their children more credit and realize that reading this book is just preparing their children for reading mature intelligent books.

A Collision of Cultures

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In I am Regina, Sally M. Keehn tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who is taken captive by Native Americans after they brutally kill her brother and father. In their village, Regina is given a new name, Tskinnak, and slowly adapts her new way of life. This young adult novel is well-crafted in terms of structure; it has a sound arc of conflict sustained by a strong narrator and cast of fascinating supporting characters that all possess individual goals and desires. Keehn masterfully juxtaposes Native American culture and the ways of the "white man" through the eyes of Regina/Tskinnak, her innocent narrator. As time progresses in the book, so does Regina/Tskinnak's understanding and acceptance of Native American culture. Though this transformation occurs slowly, the soul of her very being is forever altered. She is able to see the war amongst white men and Native Americans from both sides, and finds herself questioning where she truly belongs, a question that resonates in the minds of children and young adults of today. The only inconsistency in the book occurs during shifts in time. Keehn shifts in "moons" and at times it is confusing to judge how much or how little time has passed since the last scene. Keehn began the story using short choppy sentences, but as the book progresses, it outgrows this simplistic structure and evolves into a well-written text. I am Regina is a powerful and moving story that will captivate readers right down to the final sentence.