Posted on: Sunday, November 7, 2004

'Sequoyah' inspired by road trips

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

"Sequoyah, The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing," by James Rumford; Houghton Mifflin, hardback, $16

Released Wednesday, Advertiser columnist James Rumford's new children's book combines his fascination with languages and alphabets with a sweet nostalgia for family car vacations during which his dad, Sydney Rumford, would stop to read every historic marker along the highway, teaching through stories and anecdotes.

The book begins in the family car, driving among giant sequoia trees in California. The father in the book explains that the trees were named for a man who was a hero of the Cherokee people. The children assume that means that Sequoyah was a great warrior (the spelling of the name and the tree are, by modern convention, differentiated). But they learn that his contributions came not in battle but in inventing a syllabic writing system — drawing symbols to represent 80-something letter combinations in the Cherokee language. He believed writing and reading would help his people survive in the white man's world while preserving their world view, which is central to any language. His syllabary is still used today.

The book has been named one of the 100 best children's books for 2004 by the New York Public Library.