In a village where everyone wanted rain, no one would sacrifice anything of importance. No one except a little orphan. She gave her most prized posession. In the end, the spirits honored her sacrifice by sending rain and blue bonnets.

This book is one i chose to read aloud because it is an interesting tall tale about the indignous texas wild flower the blue bonnet. I find that tall tales such as this one really captures a child's attention. this is a great read aloud or independent read for kids ages 6-9. To find out more about this author and her books go to tomie.com. The website offers a biography of the author and cool pictures from her life

'The Legend of Bluebonnet' by Tomie dePaola tells the tale of and Indian tribe that is praying to the gods for rain as to end the famine and thirst. The indian girl, She-Who-Is-Alone belongs to the tribe and is also praying for rain. The head of the tribe tells the family that sacrifices must be made to the gods in order to be blessed with rain. Some men sacrifice their bows, and She-Who-Is-Alone sacrifcices her most prized posession, a doll. She burns the doll at night and by morning there are flowers where the ashes settled. Rain soon comes and the tribe is thankful. This story is great to teach about Indians and different cultures.

This is a book about the legend of the bluebonnet. A young Native American named She-Who-Is-Alone sacrafices her favorite doll to try and bring rain to her tribe. The lands where dying and the tribe was suffering. Because of her great sacrifice the gods sent rain to this tribe. Every year the land is filled with bluebonnets. The tribe renamed the girl to "One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People." ( )

This is a sad story of a girl, She-Who-Is-Alone, who sacrifices her most prized possession, a doll left to her by her deceased family, in order to end a drought for her tribe. The Great Spirits sent the rain and showered bluebonnets all over the hills in remembrance of the decorations on the doll she sacrificed that had meant so much. She became One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People.

This legend is sad because someone so young must sacrifice so much. Kids these days don't know what it is like to go without. It is also sad to think that she was alone. I think it's bittersweet in tone because she does a very brave thing in her sacrifice. Even small children must summon courage to do big things sometimes.

For the kids in my class, I would ask them to bring something to school that is there most prized possession. Then I would ask them if they could ever part with it and why or why not. We would then pick partners to write about. We would write a "news story" about the person and their special object. I definitely think I will teach in Texas. If so, we could go see some bluebonnets firsthand. If I teach anywhere else, I suppose I could try to grow them. But those beautiful flowers are loyal. They look the best in Texas.