Note to readers parents and educators This book includes an interview of a famous American While the words this person speaks are not his actual words all the information in the book is true and has been carefully researched Text and illustrations copyright 2016 by Lerner Publishing Group Inc All rights reserved International copyright secured No part of this book may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group Inc except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review Lerner Publications Company A division of Lerner Publishing Group Inc 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis MN 55401 USA For reading levels and more information look up this title at www lernerbooks com Main body text set in Avenir LT Pro 45 Book 15 21 Typeface provided by Linotype AG Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shaffer Jody Jensen What’s your story Sequoyah by Jody Jensen Shaffer Audience Ages 5 9 paper ISBN 978-1-4677-9652-1 eb pdf 1 Sequoyah 1770 1843 Juvenile literature 2 Cherokee Indians Biography Juvenile literature 3 Cherokee language Writing Juvenile literature 4 Cherokee language Alphabet Juvenile literature I Title pages cm Cub reporter meets famous Americans Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-4677-8786-4 lb alk paper ISBN 978-1-4677-9651-4 pb alk E99 C5S3884 2015 973 04975570092 dc23 B Manufactured in the United States of America 1 VP 12 31 15 2015027316
Table of Contents Sequoyah 4 When and where were you born 6 What was your childhood like 8 What were your interests as a young man 10 What was your life like when you got older 12 How did you create a Cherokee alphabet 14 Why were people unhappy with your writing system 16 How did your system spread beyond the village 18 Did anyone else help spread your writing system 20 What happened after you signed the treaty 22 How did the Cherokee Nation change after the Trail of Tears 24 How did you continue encouraging the Cherokee to work together 26 How did the lives of the Cherokee improve because of you 28 Timeline 29 Glossary 30 Further Information 31 Index 32
Hello everyone Today I’m talking with a very special person His name is Sequoyah Sequoyah can you tell us about yourself Sequoyah says Certainly I grew up in a Cherokee community in what is now the southeastern United States My people lived off the land by farming and hunting I did not go to school I spoke Cherokee not English My people did not have a written language When I got older I created a system of writing Cherokee words I taught the Cherokee how to read and write It was the first time Cherokee stories and history had ever been written 4
Few images of Sequoyah exist This image was printed in the late nineteenth century in a book called History of the Indian Tribes of North America 5
