PLATTSBURGH — Author Kate Messner's new book, "Champlain and the Silent One," fills the historical-fiction-for-children void much as did her debut novel, "Spitfire," on the Battle of Plattsburgh.

The 2009 Lake Champlain Quadricentennial was on her mind when she started researching in spring 2007. She wrote the book in the fall and worked on revisions this spring. "Champlain and the Silent One" was published by North Country Books in September.

The protagonist, Silent One, is an Innu boy on the cusp of manhood. He is a healer trained by his uncle, Singing Bear, who was captured and killed by the Iroquois. He was named Uhumish, "Little Owl," by his elders but after his uncle's death he refused to speak and became known as Silent One.

His character came to Messner after reading the journals of lake founder Samuel de Champlain; therein she found a passage about starving Innu who risked their lives in birch-bark canoes on ice-congested St. Lawrence to reach Habitation, the explorer's settlement in Quebec. After that encounter, Silent One travels with de Champlain and his allies, the Innu or Montagnais, Huron and Algonquin warriors to battle the Iroquois.

A NATIVE VOICE
"When I started writing this, I wasn't sure who was going to tell the story," said Messner, who teaches seventh-grade English at Stafford Middle School in Plattsburgh.

"I knew I wanted it to be a young person and someone easy for kids to relate to. It would have probably made sense to have one of Champlain's men tell the story, but that wasn't the voice I was hearing. I was hearing the voice of one of Innu boys."

(She drops the "de" when referring to the lake's founder in keeping with its original form, which was just "Champlain.")

The journal entry about the Innu stayed with her.

"I knew I wanted that to be the beginning of the novel."

There has been little written about the Innu or that time period from an indigenous point of view.

"All the written record is from an European point of view," Messner said. "Samuel Champlain's journal is the only complete written record of that time period on Lake Champlain."

Messner teaches her students to question the veracity of a single narrator, and so did she. She examined de Champlain's notes under the lens of modern scholarship to illuminate a multi-cultural narrative. In his journal, the explorer depicted naked Native people.

"We know that was not the case."

FACTS, SENSITIVITY
On the Internet, Messner researched the Innu.

"I tried to learn as much about the customs, culture and values of that group and see the things portrayed in Champlain's journal through that lens. That's how I came up with the story I did narrated by Silent One."

She also consulted with Joseph Bruchac, an Abenaki storyteller and author.

"He looked at it and offered some suggestions. There were a few names he felt weren't ringing true. He helped out with that; I was thankful."

Messner has also written a study guide. Next year, she will be very busy visiting area schools and talking to students about "Champlain and the Silent One."

"It's always a challenge when you are writing from a point of view that is different from your background," she said. "I'm not a Native writer. There's an extra responsibility that you are not only getting the facts right but also being sensitive to the culture and values of the people."

E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com