"True Son's heart felt like a stone. How could this fantastic and inferior figure in a long fawn-colored garment like a woman's be possibly anything to him-this pallid creature who revealed his feelings in front of all! In the boy's mind came the picture of his Indian father. How differently he would have looked and acted. With what dignity and restraint he could conduct himself in any situation, in peace or war, in council or the hunt, with pipe or tomahawk, rifle or scalping knife. This weak and pale-skinned man was nothing beside him 'He's not my father,' he said."-from The Light in the Forest. Johnny Butler was just four years old when his Lenni Lenape "father," Cuyloga, spoke the words that siphoned out his white blood and put Indian blood in its place. Now the Yengwes, the white soldiers, were taking him back to his "true" home. Inside of him hate and anger spread like poisons. The Light in the Forest, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Conrad Richter, will touch a new generation with its lasting truths.
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"This is a treasured book from childhood that I reread to my own children about six or seven years ago. Richter was an obsessive historical researcher and his books are beautifully detailed and salted with facts about everyday life. This tale of a white boy raised by Indians and later repatriated to domestic colonial life is gripping but grim. Don't get too attached to the characters in Richter's books because they don't stay around too long."
— Michael (5 out of 5 stars)
“An absorbing story, marked by Mr. Richter's uncanny skill in recapturing the atmosphere of the past.”
— New York Times Book Review“A fine and rare experience.”
— New York Herald Tribune" I really liked this book because this story is about who different groups of people such as the white settlers and the Indians who were living in Ohio. This story is pretty much based on a white boy who grew up with Indians and he learned Indian ways as a prisoner in Ohio. The reason why I like this book is because it is about how a little white boy that Indians dislikes is raised in their very own village but when the day True son had to return, many events begin to occur. "
— Chuk, 2/18/2014" i had to read this for school "
— Taylor, 2/8/2014" Read this in middle school...musta been damn good cuz it stuck with me up til today at 35 yrs old picking out memorable books on a website! "
— Ryan, 2/7/2014" This book let me think of one touching sentence which is about the love between the parents and the children, the sentence is "The one who grows you is more important than the one who gives you birth". Actually this is true because except your life, the one who grows you gives you everything you need. Even though this sentence is saying the parents that abandon their children, but True Son's situation is similar. To the abandoned children, their parents are strangers, and to True Son, Lenni Lenape is totally strange to him. Although he is white, but inside his body, in his blood, he is a complete Indian, and he does not expect to change the "fact". "
— Xiao, 1/14/2014" I don't know why I thought of this book. I had to read it in 7th grade and I just remember hating it. It had plenty of things I should have liked in it, but, no dice. So if you ever find yourself in 7th grade and your teacher wants you to read it, consider transferring. "
— Jared, 1/13/2014" This book had no purpose. Had to read in fifth grade. NO FUN!! "
— Isabel, 1/13/2014" Loved it. Thought provoking. "
— Judy, 12/29/2013" This is not one of my favorite books, it's okay, but nothing great. "
— Natalia, 12/28/2013" A book for teens, this book touches on topics relevant to that age group. It also challenges the Euro-American view of history and the people who lived in America when they arrived. It doesn't have a happy ending. "
— Beth, 12/28/2013" Paradigm shifting kind of a book, but a rather sad ending. "
— Lori, 12/7/2013