A Boy Named Beckoning adapted and illustrated by Gina Capaldi.  Minneapolis:  Carolrhoda Books, 2008. 

ISBN:  9780822576440

Media: Acrylic Paint on wood

Q5/P4

Wassaja of the Yavapai of Arizona is kidnapped and sold to immigrant photographer, and renames the boy.  Carlos Montezuma then goes on to be a doctor and advocate for Native Americans.

CURRICULUM CONNECTION:  5^th – 8^th grades for U.S. history classes

ARTWORK:  Paintings are treated on wood.  Sometimes the grain of the wood is visible to enhance the image.  Other times, a thick gesso layer on the wood grain adds a dimension of texture.  There is use of some actual documents and photographs to make the illustrations’ connections to real events.  To depict the boy’s kidnapping, the figure of the boy is at a diagonal with only an adult hand shown to drag him away; his diagonal figure against the horizontal lines in the picture help to create dramatic tension.  One spread uniquely uses newspaper collaged on the board, which is then painted on.  The soft earth colors work well with this account of the American West.

FBoggs 07/09

 

 

A Boy Named Beckoning: the true story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American hero adapted & ill. by Gina Capaldi. New York: Carolrhoda Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780822576440

 

  Annotation: A young Indian boy is captured and sold. He is treated as a son, becomes a doctor but never forgets his roots.

 

  Media: sepia archival photographs; watercolours

 

  Rating:5Q/5P

 

  Curriculum connections: History, Slavery, Biography, Native North Americans, Social Studies, Art

 

  Grade level: Upper Elementary

 

  Artwork: The paintings are done with the native areas done chiefly in earth-tones. Once in the land of the whiteman, there are gradually more and brighter colours such as the woman’s blue bonnet, the green dress of the woman at the store-counter, the church window, the bright green of the priest’s clothing. The facial and body expressions are moving and tell their own story as when the young captive is sitting desolate and alone, surrounded by dancing, yelling captors, or when he is standing, hands on hips, watching his mirror image for the first time.

 

lss 30/07/09

 

 

Capaldi, G. (2008). A boy named Beckoning:  the true story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American hero.  New York:  Carolrhoda Books.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8225-7644-0

 

 

 

Well-researched and illustrated with both watercolor paintings and archival photographs, this is the gripping story of one man’s survival and his dedication to his people.  Captured as a boy when a rival tribe attacked his Yavapai Indian community in 1871, Carlos Montezuma is later sold to an Italian photographer and grows up to be a doctor and a champion for his people.  As an activist, he addressed the U. S. Senate in 1916 in a famous speech entitled “Let My People Go.” The book’s text is effectively built around Dr. Montezuma’s own words in the form of a letter he wrote to the Smithsonian Institution describing his ordeals.

 

Curricular connection:  Relocation of Native Americans/Grade 11/ CA HSS 11.1.4 and Grade 5/ History-Social Science

 

Artwork:  Archival photographs and watercolor paintings in golds and browns

Subjects: Native Americans; Survival; Value of education

Theme: Education is a key to success, but never forget your roots and your responsibility to your people.

Categories: Non-fiction 970.004; Biography

Age Level Recommendation: Middle School

Rating: 4Q;3P

AAS 5-3-08

 

 

 

Citation: A Boy Named Beckoning: The True Story of Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero by Gina Capaldi. New York: Carolrhoda, 2008.  .

 

 

ISBN: 0822576449

 

 

Annotation: Wassaja, a Native American boy, is kidnapped and sold as a slave . Despite this, he becomes Dr. Montezuma and works to protect the health of his native people.

 

 

Media: Archival photographs, Watercolors

 

 

Curricular Connections: 5th-9^th grade Social Studies/ History. Subjects: Biographies, Early 19C, oppression, slavery, racial intolerance, relocation of Native Americans.

 

 

Rating: 4Q/4P

 

S.F 06/21/09