When his mother gets a job in Washington, D.C., Jake Forrest has to move away from the Iroquois reservation that has always been his home. Accepted by a private school because of his lacrosse skills, Jake discovers that the team and coach don’t know anything about the ways of Jake’s people or the culture behind the game of lacrosse. And it seems that they don’t care to learn, either. When tragedy strikes, Jake has to choose between running back to his people or finding the courage to stay and face the warrior within—the warrior who values peace and who leads others to more noble pursuits than outscoring the opposition.

Reviews:

Booklist, December 1, 2003

Gr. 5-8. Jake Forrest enjoys playing lacrosse on the Algonquin Indian reservation where he lives. He understands the way the game ties into his people's view of the world and their history. After his mother gets a job as an attorney, however, and enrolls Jake in a fancy Washington, D.C., boarding school, Jake finds his world disrupted. The school is lacrosse obsessed. Jake becomes a star of the team, but he's disturbed by his coach's failure to grasp the subtleties of the Indian approach to the sport. When a tragic shooting kills the coach, Jake organizes an all-school lacrosse game as a sort of prayer of healing. Young lacrosse fans or players may be disappointed that there aren't more descriptions of the game, and some readers may find that the novel's many messages overwhelm the characters and action. Still, there's plenty of thought-provoking material here about the place of sports in American society.

School Library Journal, October, 2003

Grade 5-8-Contemporary realistic fiction that incorporates background information on a specific Native American culture but does not overwhelm readers is far too rare. In Warriors, Bruchac introduces Jake Forrest, a young teenager who leaves the Iroquois reservation where he was raised to live with his mother, a lawyer in Maryland, and attend a prestigious private boy's school. Like many kids his age, Jake wrestles with the difficulties of moving to a new city, fitting in at a new school, and trying to make the best of his one-parent family. Additionally, he endures many little offenses, like the nickname "Chief," and bigger ones, like the biased presentation of events in history class. Throughout the novel, the author mixes just the right amount of universal teen experience and culturally specific perspective to make Jake's story appealing to a broad audience. Plus, as a sports novel, Warriors is just plain fun, with action-packed descriptions of lacrosse that put readers right on the field with the players. One hopes that books like this will encourage more teens, from all ethnic backgrounds, to recognize and internalize their own traditions instead of opting for mainstream popular culture.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2003

Now living with his lawyer mother in a condo in Maryland, Jake Forrest misses the Iroquois reservation he’s left behind, along with his friends, his cultural roots, and his lacrosse team, the Junior Warriors. Once at school, Jake discovers that one of the reasons he got into exclusive Weltimore Academy was his high-scoring record in the sport, but easy acceptance onto the team does little to make the boy feel comfortable in this different world: "It was crazy, he thought, how so many of things [sic] they did to show him they liked him and approved of him instead made him feel uncomfortable. Instead of making him feel included, they made him feel like more of an outsider." Complicating matters is the fact that his lacrosse coach/history teacher delights in bloody historic tales of Indian fighting and views the game as warfare. When the coach is shot while shielding a woman and child in a holdup, Jake must reconsider his opinion of the man. This measured novel suffers from some well-intentioned didacticism and a lot of overly convenient plotting and characterization. Despite the purposiveness, this is a useful sports story accessible to older and younger readers, and complex issues of race, perception, and individual purpose are couched in understandable terms. Jake is still a thoughtful and thought-provoking character, and his willingness to reconsider his initial impression of his coach is a development worthy of discussion. Jake’s response to the news of his coach’s wounding--the organization of a ceremonial game of lacrosse--is both culturally specific and culturally inclusive, an example of balance that deserves emulation.

Publishers Weekly

Opening with fast-paced sketches of a lacrosse game and punctuated by the reverent thoughts of a teenage Iroquois player, Bruchac’s contemporary novel will draw in both sports enthusiasts and those with an interest in Native American culture.

Children’s Books

The Warriors is told through the eyes of a middle school student, Jake, who is transplanted from his home on an Iroquois reservation to an expensive boarding school in Washington, DC. Jake is valued for his expertise in lacrosse, a game that is worshipped at his new school. As the story unfolds, however, the reader becomes keenly aware of the cultural dissonance, pain, and confusion that Jake experiences as he strives to be true to himself and to his beliefs. Bruchac’s writing is poetic and often ironic. He uses the power of “story within a story” to touch our hearts and to transform our thinking.

The Saratogian

The new novel by Joseph Bruchac of Greenfield is labeled as a children’s book for ages 9 to 11, but children of all ages and adults can enjoy and learn from The Warriors. The story is about 12-year-old Jake Forrest, an Iroquois Indian and talented lacrosse player living on a reservation in the present day.

Jake’s life changes dramatically when his mother, an attorney, takes a job in Washington, D.C. Reluctantly, Jake leaves the reservation and the only family and friends he has ever known to attend the Weltimore Academy, a prestigious boys’ school. The school is known for its emphasis on the game of lacrosse. Jake, a late entry, is a shoo-in to be a part of the team.

Even though he is made to feel welcome by his fellow students, and appears to fit in, deep down, Jake misses his home on the reservation. His academic standing and lacrosse playing are excellent at Weltimore, but he alienates himself from the others, although he seems well adjusted from his outside appearance. When an act of violence terrifies and disheartens the school and surrounding community, Jakes realizes that it’s up to him to bring everyone together under a common purpose and teach the true meaning of lacrosse and what it means to be a warrior.

Bruchac’s Warriors is much more than a wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story. It is current, with today’s headlines as a backdrop, including mentions of 9/11/2001 and this past year’s sniper shootings. Those of us who were young children in the late ‘60s and ‘70s were exposed to the myth that Indians were savages. When, as children, we played “cowboys and Indians,” how many of us wanted to be the Indians? In the ‘80s, the Indians were looked upon as “noble savages” who were misunderstood by the white man, and removed from their land to make room for the expansion of progress.

In the politically correct era of the ‘90s, the Indians were called Native Americans who were seen the true shepherds and stewards of the planet Earth. They lived in peace and harmony with Mother Nature until the ‘white devil’ showed up and committed atrocities, driving Indians from their sacred lands into concentration camp-like reservations. Bruchac cleverly illustrates common misconceptions by taking Jake and the reader out of the reservation into the Weltimore Academy, which is an international melting pot of diversity. The academy is a metaphor for the world and how people, no matter where they come from, are basically the same.