Copper Sunrise
Copper Sunrise is a children's novel by Canadian author Bryan Buchan. It was first published in 1972.
Copper Sunrise explores issues that have surrounded interactions between white people and Native North Americans. This issue is presented to the reader via a tale of a white boy during the early days of colonization in Canada who encounters the last of the Beothuk native people of Newfoundland.
Controversy
Despite its pro-native and pro racial-tolerance perspective, the novel has come under criticism from some native groups due to phrasing. Some characters describe natives as savages, and the work contains such passages as, "a stupid lazy race, living like animals in the woods... not worth worrying over or even thinking about".[citation needed] "That it is important to rid the land of these... barbarous murderous wretches... these cut-throat infidels."[citation needed] Many of the phrasings are intended as being accurate representations of the viewpoints of early European settlers in North America. Many First Nations groups advocate that books with such derogatory descriptions, historically accurate or not, shouldn't be forced upon school children. This book is one of several such books that are used in some elementary schools throughout Canada in teaching cultural history.
Main Characters (Spoiler Warning)
- Jamie, the main character of the book. The book is written from his point of view. He becomes friends with Tethani and tries to save Tethani's people.
- Tethani, a native boy in the story who befriends Jamie and helps to try and save the native race. He dies in the end along with many other of his people.