Morning Girl

By: Michael Dorris

Morning Girl is a story set back in pre-Columbus 1492. The two main characters, Morning Girl and Star Boy, belong to a tribe called the Taino's and live on an island in the Bahamas. The story is from the point-of-view of both siblings. Every other chapter, the point-of-view changes.

The main focus of the story is the sibling rivalry between the sister and brother. Morning Girl is also obsessed with trying to figure out who she is. She gets her name because she goes to bed early so she can wake up at dawn. Star Boy gets his name because he stays up all night watching the stars and then sleeps late in the day.

I enjoyed reading this story. It was interesting to learn how each person gets their name. When a child is born, these people have to get to know the child before it is given a name because the name has to be fitting. The reader can tell this takes place a long time ago with the descriptions of how they get their food and how it is cooked. Also, these Taino people live in little huts with palm fronds as their roof.

The most interesting part was the last couple of pages. Morning Girl is taking a swim in the ocean when she discovers people in a canoe. She finds them odd and strange, though she acts friendly towards them. Then, the story abruptly ends. What follows is an epilogue written by Christopher Columbus. These were the people Morning Girl saw. In the epilogue, Columbus tells how he is going to take six of these people back and teach them his language because they would make really good servants. I was actually enraged at this part. I didn't like what was written in the epilogue which is exactly was the author was (maybe)intending.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It was a simple read with an interesting ending.