A relatively short children's book, Gloria Whelan's The Indian School depicts the sad state of affairs of Native Americans who found that not only their ancestral lands had been usurped by the growing "white" populations but so had their way of life. In the mid to late 1800s, illness and poverty has decimated many tribes and some Native American children found themselves in schools and orphanages run by white people. But that doesn't mean that they should have had to lose their identities and dignity, their way of living with nature, etc. Yet, it did in many cases.
Eleven year old Lucy, a white child, finds herself an orphan--sent to live at a mission school, in Michigan, for Native American children run by her uncle and "strict" aunt. Life is hard for her--more so for the children. When a young teenage Native American girl, Raven, is forced to live at the orphanage, Lucy finds that she sympathizes with her; she also begins to learn a great deal from her about how to stand up for oneself and survive in bad conditions. Through trials and tribulations, Lucy and Raven reach an understanding about friendship--and so does Lucy's aunt.
This is an excellent book to introduce the concept of one civilization forcing the extinction of another--not so much by killing, but by attrition and indoctrination. For Intermediate level readers and older. Prof. Opal