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To Walk the Sky Path
Billie Tommie, a ten-year-old Seminole Indian, lives with his family in a chickee on a mangrove island in the Florida Everglades. Billie is the first in his family to attend school. Now he walks in two worlds--the traditonal world of his ancestors and the modern world of teachers, tourists, and schoolmates.
Billie's grandfather, Abraham, tells him the legends, stories, and rituals that are important to the Seminole people. Abraham says that an honest man who leads a good life will walk the path to the city in the sky when he dies. But Billie wants to learn more about the white man's ways.
Caught between two cultures, which path will Billie take?
Billie's grandfather, Abraham, tells him the legends, stories, and rituals that are important to the Seminole people. Abraham says that an honest man who leads a good life will walk the path to the city in the sky when he dies. But Billie wants to learn more about the white man's ways.
Caught between two cultures, which path will Billie take?
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
5 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
199 books1,038 followersPhyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 2, 2021
Good book for younger audiences
June 9, 2025
Very good storytelling.
August 20, 2013
CULTURE CLASH IN THE EVERLGLADES
Ten-year-old Billie Tommy is a Seminole Indian who lives with his family in a chickee in the Florida Everglades. He struggles to find a path through life which is both true to his heritage yet helpful to modern society. But it is very difficult even for adutls to straddle two worlds with opposing social values. Readers learn about Seminole history, customs, religion, and injustice suffered from white men. We experience terrible hurricanes plus American crudeness and prejudice. Will Billie choose to become a New Indian and collaborate with White Men--or proudly walk the path to being a True Indian, as taught by his grandfather?
Throughout the entire story there lurks the spectre of The Big One--a 15-foot alligator which terrorizes the locals. When the boys are out frogging, will the Big One get them at last? Billie's grandparents are set in the old ways and refuse to accept life in a new camp. But why won't his uncle teach him to wrestle an alligator, which earns good pay?
This is a very thoughtful book offering with both physical and mental action. Reminds us how hard it must be to walk the social tightrope between two worlds in modern society, and how shamefully many whites treat Native Americans. There are men of honor and wisdom among all native populations, with words of dignity which all races should
respect. The strtuggle of a youth who seeks to walk with honor and dignity as his elders try desperately to preserve vanishing values.
NB: A book with a similar locale but set 80 years ago is Lostman's River, by Cynthia De Felice.
(May 28, 2010. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
Ten-year-old Billie Tommy is a Seminole Indian who lives with his family in a chickee in the Florida Everglades. He struggles to find a path through life which is both true to his heritage yet helpful to modern society. But it is very difficult even for adutls to straddle two worlds with opposing social values. Readers learn about Seminole history, customs, religion, and injustice suffered from white men. We experience terrible hurricanes plus American crudeness and prejudice. Will Billie choose to become a New Indian and collaborate with White Men--or proudly walk the path to being a True Indian, as taught by his grandfather?
Throughout the entire story there lurks the spectre of The Big One--a 15-foot alligator which terrorizes the locals. When the boys are out frogging, will the Big One get them at last? Billie's grandparents are set in the old ways and refuse to accept life in a new camp. But why won't his uncle teach him to wrestle an alligator, which earns good pay?
This is a very thoughtful book offering with both physical and mental action. Reminds us how hard it must be to walk the social tightrope between two worlds in modern society, and how shamefully many whites treat Native Americans. There are men of honor and wisdom among all native populations, with words of dignity which all races should
respect. The strtuggle of a youth who seeks to walk with honor and dignity as his elders try desperately to preserve vanishing values.
NB: A book with a similar locale but set 80 years ago is Lostman's River, by Cynthia De Felice.
(May 28, 2010. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews