Ahyoka and the Talking Leaves

A fictional recreation of the life of Ahyoka, a young Cherokee who worked with her exiled father to help him create Cherokee syllabary, the only written language ever invented by a single person.

Grade 3-5-- Easy, well-written historical fiction. Ahyoka, daughter of Sequoyah, the man who created a written Cherokee language in the early 1800s, is a woman lost in the tide of history. In the Roops' story, she comes to life. She is portrayed as her father's helper and soul mate in his long-term quest, leaving her mother and home to travel with him after he is ostracized and accused of magic. It is Ahyoka who discovers that letters relate to sounds rather than being representative pictures--the key to creating the syllabic alphabet. The authors provide an epilogue of historical facts discovered in their research and a bibliography of adult sources. Miyake's illustrations are rendered with skill and sensitivity, and adequately convey the action. Full-page paintings reproduced in black and white and shades of gray are effective yet disappointing after the velvety warmth of the full-color cover art. Sequoyah and Ahyoka's success in creating a written language for their people provides a heartwarming conclusion to a satisfying story that should be in most libraries. --Jody McCoy, Casady School, Oklahoma City
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ahyoka--daughter of Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee alphabet--is credited with ``enter[ing] into the genius of his labors.'' Adapting and filling out the historical record, the Roops depict their determination to find a way for Cherokees to read and write like whites, despite the antagonism of their family and tribe. In initial attempts, the two try drawing a picture to represent each word; then Ahyoka discovers the concept of symbols for sounds, and the result is a workable syllable alphabet. Oddly enough, the epilogue here is more interesting than the slender story, which lacks any real sense of time and place; it provides information on the period and mentions the novelty of an alphabet being created rather than evolving. It also implies historical fudging: History has Ahyoka helping to construct the syllabary, not producing the pivotal brainstorm. Not the best place to look for information on the Cherokees. Appealing b&w watercolors; bibliography. (Fiction. 6+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.