Need help with English Homework! BOOK SUMMARY NEEDED!?

Question

I am reading the book "I am Regina" by Sally M. Keehn. I have to read up to the 7th chapter by tomarrow and there is no way in heck that I can do this. I have to study for 2 exams tonight and finish a science project. I am scrambling here and really need some serious help. I Know its about a girl in the late 1700's and she is kidnapped by the Indians and becomes one, but I need details. I have to discuss it with a reading group tomarrow. I usually don't do this, but I am between a rock and a hard place. I am jumping back and forth from reading to studying to math to science to writing a childerens book (homework) and I just can't do it all. NO - I do not procrastonate and if you are just going to post something stupid like "Learn how to spell" or "Read it yourself", then don't waste your time answering. Again - I am desperate here, and I have searched google for an hour now. Please, please help! Thanks in advance!!!!

Answer 1

First of all, some people WILL give you those answers no matter WHAT you say because they feel that getting two points is the most important thing in the world. Second of all, that hour you spent on Google could have been spent reading that book. I'll see what I can come up with and will post a better answer soon if there isn't one already, but don't forget that other people have homework as well.

I just found some themes that could help in your class discussion:
the conflict of cultures
the victimization of a race of people
family roots and cultural identity
What I can infer from themes is that she either tries to find her biological family or tries to stop the white men from doing their whole "westward expansion manifest destiny" thing. I really just have no idea, though, and I'm really sorry I'm probably not helping at ALL.

Answer 2

**Summary: A white girl is kidnapped from her home on a family farm and forced to follow the life of a Native American. At first she feels that indians are savages, but when she is exposed to what the white man is capable of, she isn't sure of much anything anymore. Regina, or Tskinnak, never forgets the family she was born into, even though years of separation wear and tear at it.


**This account based on a true story tells of ten-year-old Regina who, along with her sister, is kidnapped by the Allegheny Indians after they kill her father and brother. Separated from her sister, Regina, now called Tskinnak, is forced to live with the Allegheny's for nine years and adapt to their ways. When she is at last rescued by the white men, Tskinnak is reunited with her mother and brother, and has to readjust to a life she remembers very little of.


**About this title: One fateful day while her mother is away, ten-year-old Regina's life is changed forever. Indians break into her family's Pennsylvania cabin, kill her father and brother, and carry her away to their settlement. Befriended by kindly Nonschetto, Regina begins a new life, learning the ways of the Allegheny, but she wonders if she'll ever see her mother again.


**The powerful story of a young girl kidnapped by Indians after an Indian massacre in 1755. Based on a true incident in history, Regina's faith carries her through a decade of captivity. Unable to be identified by sight, Regina is finally revealed to her family through a hymn she had learned as a little child.


**Synopsis:
From the publisher
The cabin door crashes open-and in a few minutes Regina's life changes forever. Allegheny Indians murder her father and brother, burn their Pennsylvania home to the ground, and take Regina captive. Only her mother, who is away from home, is safe. Torn from her family, Regina longs for the past, but she must begin a new life. She becomes Tskinnak, who learns to catch fish, dance the Indian dance, and speak the Indian tongue. As the years go by, her new people become her family...but she never stops wondering about her mother. Will they ever meet again?
Original title: I Am Regina
Original language: English


**Summary: "Kidnapped! The cabin door crashes open and in a few minutes ten-year-old Regina's life changes forever. Her father and brother are killed, her family's Pennsylvania home burned to the ground. And Regina has been captured by Allegheny Indians. She can only hope that her mother, away from home this fateful day, lives. Befriended by kindly Nonschetto, Regina begins her new life, learning to catch the wily fish maschilamek, to dance the Indian dance, to speak the Indian tongue, to stand up to the vicious Tiger Claw. Still, as the years go by, she does not forget the song she and her mother used to sing together. Will the two ever meet again? "
-From the Publisher


**Summary: Based on the true story of a young girl kidnapped at the time of the French and Indian War, this book recounts the story of a ten year old girl taken into captvity by the Allegheny Indians. After killilng her father and brother, Regina is taken alive. Regina's mother is not home at the time of the attack and Regina can only hope that her mother is safe. At first, Regina hates the people who have destroyed her home and family, but as years pass, she learns to adopt their ways. However, Regina still remembers her mother and their special song, and Regina keeps up hope that she will one day see her mother again.


**Eleven year old Regina's life is changed forever when her family is attacked by Indians. Regina and her sister are taken hostage and forced to work as servants for the Indians. She must live the harsh life that the Indians live -- little food during winter, not enough clothing and life in the cold. Slowly, Regina becomes used to the Indian way of life. She leaves Regina behind and becomes Tskinnah


**This novel is based on the life of Regina Leininger, a child of early Pennsylvania. It is meant for readers in the fifth grades and up, we think. In 1755 Regina was captured by the Indians after they killed her father and brother. She remained with the Indians for eight years, at first chafing at and later adapting to her new life. During her capture and arduous trip north with the Indians, Regina repeats the phrase, "I am Regina," justifiably fearing a loss of identity ahead. Later, when the captives are brought back for reclaiming by their original families, it is her Indian name she repeats and she has trouble remembering her earlier name.

**At the beginning of the book, she is afraid of the Indians, a fear she shares with most of the other settlers. After her life with the Indians, it is the attack of the white settlers she fears. Thus Keehn gives us a chance to see both sides of the coin through the eyes of one character.


**I am Regina by Sally Keehn - historical fiction
Regina is a German American living in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. When she is 11, her family is attacked by Allegheny Indians. Her father and brother are killed, and she and her sister are taken captive. Only her mother and another brother, who were away at the time, escape. Regina, now called Tskinnak, spends the next 8 years with the Allegheny tribe, learning their language and ways, and learning to love Nonschetto, who has become like a mother to her. But she never loses hope of finding her real mother again. Nor does she lose the memories of the German songs and Bible verses her mother has taught her. Although this book is brutally honest about the cruelties of war (it takes place during the French and Indian War), it is a beautifully written story about hope and faith and the power of words.





I KNOW THAT THESE ARE ALL SIMILAR AND SOME EVEN THE SAME, BUT I REALLY HOPE IT HELPED. IT WAS ALL I COULD FIND B/C I HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK. ALL OF THE SEPERATE SUMMARIES ARE DOUBLE-SPACED AND HAVE STARS NEXT TO THEM, SO I THINK YOU'LL BE ABLE TO READ THEM. HERE ARE SOME THINGS TO TALK ABOUT;


*Things to Notice and Talk About
Other things discussed in the book make good comparisons with then and now, the Indians use of sweat lodges, for instance. How are they like saunas? Are they used for the same reasons?

Regina has trouble keeping her own identity. Children might like to explore what they consider their own identity. Who are they? What touchstones, pastimes, keepsakes, routines, hobbies, friends and family do they use to keep that feeling of who they are?

In some cases, both in fiction and in non-fiction sources, the captives make a different choice than the one Regina makes. In Carolyn Cooney's book The Ransom of Mercy Carter (Delacorte, 2001 ISBN 0385326157. Order Info.), the story of many captives taken from Deerfield, Massachusetts, some of the captives choose to remain with their kidnappers. What factors would make the choice difficult? What are they giving up? What are they receiving? What would make the choice difficult or easier for you?


*Women's roles in the settlers and in the Indian cultures were quite different. Have the children list the jobs performed by women in both cultures and compare them. Each society had its own fears and values. Which society would you prefer? Why?

Many of the Indians' foods and their ways of raising and cooking corn, pole beans and squash are given. There is information about maple syrup gathering and refining as well. Current research in agriculture shows that the old ways were best after all and that the fertilizer we've doused our crops and gardens with for years may have done irreparable harm. Ask a farmer who is trying to use methods less destructive to the environment to tell the kids how his ways are alike and how they are different from those in the book. And what about the methods used by the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers all along?