Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks blends fact with fiction in her heartbreaking novel about Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University in 1665 at the age of 19. The son of a chieftain, Caleb was born into the Wpanak tribe on what is now Martha's Vineyard. The story is told by Bethia Mayfield, the young daughter of a Calvinist minister, who seeks intellectual stimulation that is denied her because of her sex. Befriending the young Caleb when she is only 12, Bethia learns about Caleb's exotic world that is so foreign to her own. When Bethia's father tries to convert the Wpanak people, his efforts are met with outrage. To appease his new neighbours, the minister offers to take Caleb with him back to the city of Cambridge and educate him so that one day, Caleb can become a leader of his own people, but one who can also negotiate with the new colonizers of Massachusetts. What ensues is a story about a young man who leaves his home to study Latin, Greek and religious studies in an educational institution so foreign from his world. It will take another 346 years for another member of the Wpanak tribe to graduate from Harvard in 2011. Reviewer Patricia Gibson is a Librarian at the Prince George Public Library.
