Rain Is Not My Indian Name

Smith, Cynthia Leitich. Rain is Not My Indian Name. 2001. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-688-17397-7.

With a dead mother, a dead best friend, and cultural prejudice all figuring into the plot, it seems as if Rain is Not My Indian Name would hardly be able to transcend being a stereotypical “problem novel.” But because of Cynthia Leitich Smith’s deft handling and big heart, it does. Instead, it’s a nuanced portrait of a wise and thoughtful young woman, both specific and universal, that leaves readers satisfied and maybe a little wiser themselves.

The plot revolves around both Rain’s struggles with her best friend’s death and a summer technology program for Native American youth that Rain’s aunt wants the city to pay for. But there’s much more going on even than that. The book is a slice of life, with all that entails, rather than a neat and self-contained sequence of events. At the end we sense that Rain has reached a new place even as some of the plot threads go on without being resolved, just as they would in real life.

Rain employs shifting cultural markers throughout her story. At times she refers to herself as Indian, but she also points out that the only “Indian” family in her town is from India. She struggles with whether or not to purchase a dreamcatcher, wondering if it’s a fakelore souvenir. She doesn’t know as much as she wants to about her own heritage. At times, the biggest cultural influence on her actions isn’t a Native American culture, but generic small-town American. This multivalence rings true. People within a parallel culture don’t somehow absorb the culture whole at birth, but must choose when and how to embody their culture, sometimes changing their choices at different times in their lives.

In her blog, Smith points out that the book shows an “emphasis on engineering and technology, which cuts against the stereotype of the Native primitive.” She also says that it’s one of the first contemporary-fiction books with a “mixed blood” protagonist in which being Native American isn’t in itself the conflict in the book. (August 21, 2004.)

This story would provide lots of food for thought and discussion in a teen book club. Many kids of mixed heritage, whatever that heritage is, will find Rain's observations to ring true.

In School Library Journal, Carol Edwards says, “There is a surprising amount of
humor in this tender novel. It is one of the best portrayals around of kids whose heritage is mixed but still very important in their lives.”

School Library Journal. Qtd. In Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Rain-Not-My-Indian-Name/dp/0688173977/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5676480-3776938?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184354651&sr=1-1.

Smith, Cynthia Leitich. August 21, 2004.Cynsations. “Rain is Not My Indian Name.” http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2004/08/rain-is-not-my-indian-name.html.