Mary Van Rheenen will be signing her recently published book, The Treasure Team, in the Rieckhoff Room at the Orange City Public Library on Tuesday, November 27, 4:30-5:30. The Treasure Team, an adventure book for middle readers, combines Van Rheenen’s interests in history, anthropology, and creative writing.
Van Rheenen graduated from Northwestern College with a student-determined major in history and writing. She then did research for the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, Louisiana, for two years in the mid-1980s. The action of The Treasure Team takes place during this time period. The author has woven stories from actual oral history collected for the tribe into The Treasure Team. Though the book is a work of fiction, Van Rheenen aims to give an accurate portrayal of the community’s unique history and heritage. According to at least one community elder who previewed the book, she succeeded.
“I love that book. This is my life.”
Another commented on the Tribe’s Facebook page, “I enjoyed the book. The young characters could have been most anyone of us who grew up in the area. . .. Thanks Mary for your book and to the council for bringing her to the Tribal Office for a signed copy from her.”
The Treasure Team debuted this October with a book signing at the Ebarb Tribal office.
The traditionally Spanish-speaking Ebarb-Zwolle community dates back to Spanish colonial settlement in what is now northwest Louisiana. Both Choctaw from the east and Lipan Apache from the west mingled here. The book contains stories of country dances, Native American stickball games, working in the woods . . . and hunting for treasure.
The lively narrative of the book is enriched by the depth of Van Rheenen’s knowledge of local lore. After working for the Choctaw-Apache Community, Van Rheenen earned a master’s in cultural anthropology from Louisiana State in Baton Rouge. She did fieldwork for her master’s thesis in the Ebarb community.
Van Rheenen has won awards for both scholarly and creative writing. While living in Orange City, she was a founding member of “The Live Poets’ Society” and wrote a Christmas program performed by the Trinity Reformed Church Sunday school. She taught writing at a medium security prison in Illinois before teaching in Northwestern’s anthropology/sociology department. She and her husband Keith Holmes then opened the Havergraan Baking Co. in Orange City with an adjacent coffee-shop/bookstore. Since 1996 they have lived in the Netherlands with their two daughters where they serve as resource coordinators for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s mission team to the Romany (Gypsies) of Europe.
Young people and adults are invited to the reception/ book signing. Van Rheenen will also do short readings throughout the event.
The book signing is sponsored in part by the Orange City Arts Council. The Treasure Team will be available for the special book signing price of $12. A portion from the sale of each copy will be donated to the Choctaw-Apache’s Scholarship Fund. For additional information about the book, go to www.treasure-team.com or e-mail the publisher at jar-of-oil@online.nl
