Strong Heart

by Charlie Sheldon

Paperback, 2017

Status

Available

Publication

Iron Twine Press (2017)

Description

"One stormy May night, just as Tom Olsen is about to leave with his Native American friends to visit his grandfather's grave deep in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula wilderness, he answers a knock at his door to find an abandoned thirteen year old girl. The girl announces her name is Sarah Cooley and that Tom is her grandfather. She tells Tom he lives at the end of the earth. All she sees is dripping forest, tall trees, rain and wind. Astonished, all Tom sees is trouble. He knows he should cancel the trip and deal with Sarah, but when his friends suggest bringing Sarah along, Tom reluctantly agrees, hoping a backpacking trip might teach Sarah some sorely needed lessons about character, responsibility and grit. All too soon, Tom and his friends have reason to wonder - are they taking Sarah Cooley on this journey, or is she taking them? Adventure, scientific inquiry, a tinge of mystery, and a hint of the unexplainable infuse this meticulously-imagined tale. In a story matching the breathtaking scope of its Pacific Northwest and North Pacific setting, Sheldon's tale startles, yet challenges us to think" -- Page [4] of cover.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mckait
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is an unusual book. The first thing I noticed was the clipped cadence of the sentences. It seems that this story of Sarah, a young teenager meeting her grandfather for the first time, is a story wrapped around a legend. Sarah and her grandfather Tom, go hiking in the
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local mountains the day after they met. Sarah had lost both of her parents and her stepfather wanted to be rid of her. She landed at her grandfathers home. There she met with two good friends of his, Myra and William, her father.

They hiked up the mountain to pay tribute to her great great grandfather, who died there long before, while in Tom's company. What follows is this small family getting to know each other, and a peek into the myths and legends that surround their native lands. I admit it was somewhat difficult to follow at times. It was worth the journey to find the end of the story. There were difficult times and some good times.

I would not necessarily recommend this to just anyone. It defies genres, in my opinion and is slow paced.
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LibraryThing member JanicsEblen
I received this book through LibraryThing Earlier Reviewers and am so happy to have been selected to receive it. The story of Tom Olsen his Granddaughter Sarah, his old and dear friend William and William's daughter Myra. The four of them leave to visit Tom's grandfather's grave in Washington
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State's Olympic Peninsula to visit Tom's Grandfather. They decide to take along this thirteen girl who has absolutely no interest in going. The four of them over the span of the book come to care deeply about each other. The book is not as simplistic as I have described. Please, if you have the opportunity to read this book - do so! I truly enjoyed it and learned a fair amount about some of the theory of how inhabited our country first and where they came from.
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LibraryThing member CandyH
I received this book from LibraryThing and am grateful for the chance to read it. However, it is probably the strangest story that I've ever read. I've read a lot of Native American lore and legend but never anything like this. It's the story of Tom and his granddaughter, Sarah and William and his
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daughter, Myra. They go on a trek. Sarah has an interesting part in this unusual story. They all go on a second trek to try and recover an artifact that was left on the first outing. It was all just very strange to me.
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LibraryThing member Gatorhater
An adventurous journey into the northwest region of the state of Washington, to try to recover the atlatl, which could possible be archeological evidence of an ancient artifact, that was left behind on an earlier adventure. The crew believes the atlatl is from a mammoth bone, dating back thousands
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of years. If this is the case, it makes this land a archaeologists find and off limits to developers.
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LibraryThing member PamelaBarrett
Strong Heart is set in the Olympic Peninsula Wilderness of Washington State. It’s the story about a grandfather, Tom, who meets his rebellious, strong willed granddaughter, Sarah, for the first time and decides to take her backpacking with his Native American friend William and Williams’
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daughter Myra. Tom has his reasons for doing this trip, part family mystery and part closure after the death of his father. Regrettably, Sarah has never backpacked, William is in poor health, and Myra is going through a lot of unresolved issues herself; but they set off not knowing the dangers that lie ahead. The story is a mix of historical facts, mysterious legends, and a spiritual quest that collide in the modern world.
I enjoyed reading it, and I think older teens and adventure loving adults would like it too. My critique is that the writing could be more polished and the transitions need a little work. But after saying that, I do feel that this new author has more stories to tell and that there are future novels to come. 4 stars
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LibraryThing member ebrahmstadt
Strong Heart is one of the most unique novels I’ve read recently. Tom’s teenaged granddaughter, Sarah, who he didn’t know existed, is dropped at his door when he’s about to take an epic hiking/camping trip with some Native American friends. What follows is a story describing Tom’s history
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and human history in general. Sarah experiences a vision detailing what life could have been like for young women in Washington State many years ago. The story was good. The writing came across a little stilted at times because of the sentence structure, but this did not affect my enjoyment of this novel. Thanks to Librarything and publisher for free book in exchange for honest review.
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LibraryThing member lowelibrary
A very well written book. The story drew me in immediately. I especially loved the story in a story that was Sarah's tale. I only gave it 4 stars due to the ending being unimaginative and leaving me wanting.
LibraryThing member JoyceMG3
This story takes place in the Olympic Peninsula wilderness in Washington State. Tom, his Native American friend William and William's daughter Myra are about to go on a camping trip. Not an ordinary camping trip but Tom is going to find the place where his great grandfather died while Tom was with
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him. Right before they are about to leave, Tom's ex-wife arrives at his doorstep with his young teenage granddaughter, who he didn't even know existed. Sarah is not happy about this situation and voices her opinions. Tom and his friends decide to go on this trip anyway and take Sarah with them. On this trip they are learning about each other and learning to trust each other as well. Sarah disappears for a time and when she returns she tells them what happened to her. Tom doesn't believe her story, thinking that it would have been impossible to happen in this day and age and within the time she was missing. Her story tells of a long ago time of Native American history.
They are also fighting to keep this area from being taken over by developers believing that this could be a historical site.
I received this book from Library Thing for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member Lisa_Wojcik49
I am going to find it difficult to review this book. While it was well written for the most part - once in a while I had a little difficulty following exactly which character was speaking - I found the subject itself hard to believe. A large part of the book was supposed to be through the viewpoint
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of a young female in prehistoric northwest North America. This is not the first book in this genre I have tackled, but I found this one to be less believable than some others. While this IS a book of fiction, there is absolutely no way to know with any certainty if the events that unfold in the story are in any way truly representative of actual events. This is where my skepticism kicked in. I also felt that the ending was rather abrupt and I would have like to have seen a little more closure to the story - did Sarah and Tom (granddaughter and grandfather) progress in their relationship after the hiking trip? We, the readers, were kind of left hanging. I have to admit that the book had a unique premise - that Native American legends are based on historical events passed down in oral tradition - I'm just not sure about the way in which that premise was presented in this book. Still worth a read though.
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LibraryThing member NancyB.Div
Tom finds out he is a grandfather the hard way when the girl’s grandmother, Ruth, drops the granddaughter, Sarah, off at Tom’s then leaves. Sarah is defined as defiant by Ruth. She wants Tom to take care of Sarah. Tom had plans to hike to his grandfather’s grave to pay respects and almost
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backed out because he felt uneasy about taking a young girl into the wilderness. Tom chose to stick with his plan to hike through the Olympic National Park woods to pay respects to his grandfather’s grave before a big corporation comes in and destroys the natives’ land. During the hike Sarah gets mad and takes off into the woods alone. A search party was sent out to look for her when she doesn’t return.
A young girl lost in the woods is every family’s worst nightmare. The author, Charlie Sheldon, did a good job in describing the panic everyone felt when Sarah went missing. I was hoping they would find her sooner. After she had been missing for eight days she returns and tells a tale of her experience, or her vision.
Later in the year they return to the park only to be betrayed by Myra’s friend who works for the corporation that wants to take their land. Tom and his friends, William and Myra, defend their native heritage and respect traditions. They are very compassionate about keeping the native lands out of the hands of a corrupt corporation. Myra argues with science defending the stories of her native heritage.
I was glad to see the maps at the beginning of the book. I grew up in Alaska near where Sarah had her adventure. I have watched my friends fight for their native rights. I’m giving a 5 out of 5 review because Charlie Sheldon conveyed compassion for the cause for native rights.
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Language

Original language

English

Barcode

3904
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