Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen (Heartdrum, August 2023) is a middle-grade graphic novel featuring a girl with a unique heritage: she is half Jewish and half Native American, spending most of her life with her Jewish mother and devout Jewish stepfather and attending a Jewish middle school. When people start teasing her about her identity and questioning her ethnicity, she decides to learn more about her Native American heritage.
Mia’s interest in learning about her Native American heritage is sparked by racist jokes, including a comment about “savages” from the rabbi at her school. She also reads a historical fiction novel that depicts Native Americans as violent kidnappers. Since Two Tribes is a graphic novel, the author uses a different shade and illustration style for Mia’s thoughts and her interpretations of this novel. The pastel and cartoony style of these thoughts is an important contrast to the unpleasant scenes that are depicted in Mia’s thoughts.
Since Mia does not have a relationship with her father, she feels estranged from her Native heritage. Her mother won’t talk about Mia’s father, so Mia does not feel she can mention her conflicting emotions. Through subterfuge, she leaves home and travels to Oklahoma without permission to visit her father, stepmother, and family. In Oklahoma, she explores her Muskogee traditions. She meets a cousin with her own unique interpretation of a Native tradition, and she bonds with her extended family. Mia’s story emphasizes the importance of learning about one’s culture and the challenges of having multiple heritages.
As a parent, I disliked that Mia chose to lie in order to travel across the country without her parents’ knowledge. Although most tweens will know better than to imitate Mia’s dangerous decision, I wish Mia’s journey to learning her identify omitted inappropriate behavior such as this. To me, it detracted from the story of identity and heritage.
Interestingly, the author weaves in a lesson from the Book of Jonah, highlighting Jonah’s evasion of responsibility. It is Mia’s rabbi who introduces these thoughts. This adds an intriguing religious dynamic to Mia’s story and her identity as Mia explores her Jewish faith alongside her Muscogee heritage. I appreciated the contrast between the two and how the Biblical story ties into the partly autobiographical graphic novel.
Two Tribes effectively portrays the enrichment brought by Native American traditions and the joy that comes from exploring one’s heritage. The graphic novel format brings this message to a young audience in an easily accessible and clear way. Although the graphic novel has its issues, it shows a positive and unique perspective that gives a distinct “own voice” to the discussion of identity.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.