Courage at Indian Deep

Courage at Indian Deep. ISBN:0-89919-181-9. Jane Resh Thomas. 1984. Parents Choice Award; other awards for this author: 2001 Kerlan Award, 2006 Minnesota Book Award. Realistic Fiction. Ages 8-12. Eleven year old Caucasian boy.

This book is about an eleven year old little boy named Cass who is forced to move from Minneapolis to Duluth because his dad lost his job as a chemistry teacher and needed to take a job as a Police officer back at Cass's mom's home town. The family is also running a small resort on Lake Superior.

Cass is having a hard time getting along with the kids because they have labeled him as a city boy. One boy in particular, Ansel, seems to pick on him and degrade him the most. Cass misses his home in Minneapolis, but is beginning to find the nature in Duluth enjoyable.

Since they moved to Duluth, Cass's relationship with his dad has became very distant. His dad does not have as much time to spend with him and is constantly trying to get him to take more responsibility. He does not realize all of the troubles that Cass is facing.

Cass ends up getting into a fight with Ansel on the bus, and is afraid to go home because he doesn't want to get in trouble. He had been hiding survival things in a cave at Indian Deep for quite some time and decides to go there for the night with his dog, Tongue. That evening, a blizzard blows in and in the midst of the blizzard, he sees a boat crashing against the rocks. He goes to find help and the only person available to help is....Ansel. Him and Ansel end up saving two of the men from the ship, but have to stay the night together in the cave. Cass finds out that his secret cave was on Ansel's property and he had been watching Cass for some time. Cass and Ansel both realize that the stereotypes they had about each other were false, and they become friends because they encouraged each other to get through the night both physically and emotionally.

This book could be read during a unit studying Minnesota. Discussing the history of Duluth and Lake Superior. You could use it to discuss important survival tips with the students. They could brainstorm about how they could be put in positions of this kind of responsibility and how important it is to learn some survival skills living and vacationing in Minnesota. You could talk about what would be important skills to have if vacationing in northern Minnesota.

Discuss friendships, and courage, as well as stereotyping that occurred in this book using Bloom's level questions.

The children could write about experiences they have had in nature and then add a fictional story to the actual experience. What could have happened and how would you have handled it?

You could use this book as part of a tiered assignment. Children that are at higher reading levels could read "Hachet" by Gary Paulson, and children that are not in such an advanced reading level could read this book, but the same themes could be discussed.