Remember My Name

by Sara Harrell Banks

Chosen in 1994 as one of the two best children's books in the United Kingdom.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction

Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Sara Harrell Banks won the 1997 Georgia Author of the Year award for "Under the Shadow of Wings." This novel was also an "American Bookseller" Pick of the Lists and hailed by "School Library Journal" as "Powerful [and] compelling," with a narrator "reminiscent of Harper Lee's Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird.""
Ms. Banks is also the author of "Remember My Name, The Way Was Through the Woods, " and the picture book "A Net to Catch Time." She lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Reviews

[Miss Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

gr 3-6

1838 Trail of Tears New Echota, Georgia. 11 year old Annie Rising Fawn leaves her home in Star Mountain to live with her aunt and uncle in New Echota the Cherokee capitol in Georgia. Life on her uncle's plantation is very different from life on Star Mountain with her grandmother. She learns that her uncle owns slaves. Annie has never heard of one person owning another. Annie soon experiences injustices herself as she watches as her people's rights are slowly taken away one by one. Finally, the order comes for all Cherokee to leave Georgia. Annie's uncle tells Annie that she and Rissy, one of her uncle's freed slaves, must return alone to Star Mountain to escape the removal.

Important story with good characters.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

everyone acted fake and no one changed. Boring storyline, mostly because it wasn't written well.

[Meghan Szady · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very well written. It was written from the point of view of a young girl, so it is very relatable for elementary kids. I appreciated that Native American words were included in the book.

[Dalton Bodreau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember My Name by Sara H. Banks was a decent book. It had a compelling plot line and sophisticated characters and involved a complexity of emotions and feeling. Though this book is technically fiction, it is historical fiction, as it describes the struggles endured by the Cherokee indians in 17th century America. Main character Annie Rising Fawn Stuart is an 11 year old Cherokee girl who lives with her grandmother, whom she calls "Nanye'hi", in Star Mountain. Both of her parents are dead. Annie's uncle, William Blackfeather, feels as though Annie is now old enough to recieve a good education. Therefore, William comes to Star Mountain to visit and takes Annie back home with him. This forces Annie to leave the only home she's ever known, a place grown in native rituals and ancestral beliefs and practices, and enter a totally foreign place that her uncle calls home. She leaves behind everything she has ever known. Little does she know, is that her uncle is an extremely wealthy land owner and that his village, New Echota, Georgia, contains things that Annie has never seen before, such as slaves. Annie hates the concept of people controlling/owning others but soon becomes used to it as she starts to experience her own injustices by watching her Cherokee relatives get everything they have taken away from them. Before she knows it, the official order is sent out that all Cherokees must leave the state of Georgia. Annie is forced to return back to Star Mountain alone, an 11 year old girl versus the world. As the Cherokee nation is torn apart, so is Annie's family and life. She finds herself in arguably one of the most shameful and disgraceful occurrences in American history: the removal of Indians in the 1830's.

I rated this novel 3 out of 5 stars. I am glad I read this book, as I previously had little knowledge of this period in American history, but i would not read it again.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Annie turns eleven, her grandmother decides that she must live with Uncle William and go to school. Before Annie leaves, she buries her doll and her Cherokee name, Agin'agili, in her secret place—a perfect square bordered by sunflowers. Grandmother tells her that the bones and the voices in the sacred pipe smoke tell of a great destruction that will soon come to the Cherokee. When Annie arrives at Uncle William's plantation, Aunt Martha puts away her treasures from home and insists that she wear the uncomfortable dress of the white man. Charity, the family's servant, eases Annie's homesickness by giving her back her father's shawl, her mother's coverlet of turkey feathers, and her Grandmother's magic rock. Annie becomes best friends with Charity’s daughter, Righteous. Too soon the destruction that Grandmother predicted begins. The government closes the Cherokee newspaper. Communicating by drums, the people keep in touch. The chief is driven from his home, the school is closed, and soldiers begin to appear. They build a stockade to temporarily house the Cherokee. The white people living in the area, greedy for the Cherokee's wealth, have petitioned the government for the Indian lands. Uncle William sends Annie and Righteous to Grandmother so they do not have to walk the “trail of tears.” The girls make the dangerous trip alone.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy this book. It was an assignment from school, and this was the book we had to read. It focuses on how a cherokee family and friends have to travel to another state because of the war that is going on. For me personally, i don't enjoy reading books about the indian tribes/cherokees. It just dosen't interest me that much:)

[Haley Whitehall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book was going to be about the Trail of Tears. The protagonist Annie does not go on the Trail of Tears. I did not get into the story. Annie did not really grow or change much. I didn't even feel that connected to her.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in 5th grade so I don't really remember it...

[Angie Gazdziak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this with my oldest, and I didn't like it as much as I did when I was a kid. I guess that tracks, but I felt like the first half of the book and the second half were written by different people.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great novel of the 1838 Cherokee removal from Georgia.