Between Earth & Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places

Ten Native American legends - each having to do with a sacred place - are presented in this picture-book by Joseph Bruchac, a prolific children's author of Abenaki heritage. Using the framing device of a conversation between a young Delaware man named Little Turtle, and his Uncle Old Bear, Bruchac relates a diverse range of stories, from the Wampanoag tale of Mau-shop, the helpful giant who transformed himself into a white whale, and swam off to the east, to the Hopi tradition concerning the Grand Canyon, which reminds us that there have been four worlds, of which this current one is just the latest.

Other selections include the Seneca tale concerning the Thunder Beings who lived in a cave beneath the great falls known as Ne-ah-ga show more (Niagara), and the young woman who became the wife of their chief; the Navajo story of He-Who-Kicks-Them-Over-The-Cliff, a terrible ogre defeated by the Hero Twins, whose remains can be seen in the rock formation known today as El Capitan; and the Cherokee legend concerning Buzzard's role in shaping the Great Smoky Mountains. The Papago (Tohono O'odham) belief that the desert cacti are ancient people sworn to watch over them, and that the clouds are living beings; the Abenaki tradition concerning the islands in lake Pe-ton-bowk (Champlain), said to belong to the Thunder Beings; and the Walapai explanation for the deserted Anasazi ruins, are also included. Finally, the Cheyenne story of how people came to hunt buffalo, rather than the other way around, and the Hopewell connection to the great serpentine earth-mounds of Ohio, round out the selections.

With an engaging free-verse narrative, and beautiful oil illustrations by Thomas Locker, Between Earth & Sky offers a lovely sampling of Native American place tales. Each selection is just long enough to give an idea of the rich tradition behind it, each painting emphasizes the beauty and wonder of the sacred place being depicted. Children with an interest in these kind of tales will probably want to find fuller, more detailed versions, but this is a good place to start, particularly for younger readers. show less

I really enjoyed this book because it talked about several places in Arizona that I’m very familiar with. I hadn’t heard about the creation stories that Native Americans associate with those landmarks so that was very interesting. This book was a great window into Native American tradition and perspective.

I learned many new things about Native Americans because of this book, and I want to learn more about Native Americans. The book has many legends from different tribes of Native Americans, and it explains the seven cardinal directions that Native Americans use. North, south, west, east, earth, sky, and the last one is within us. Native Americans use these seven cardinal points to find balance in life, and everything in the world is considered sacred. According to the Navajo tribe, life was hard because there was a monster, and two brothers and their grandmother decided to destroy the monster. When the brothers and their grandmother arrived to the cliff where the monster was sleeping, they pushed the monster off the cliff. This story show more symbolizes how good triumphed over evil. The most valuable lesson I learned from this book is that everything is sacred, and that I should protect the environment. Kids could learn a valuable lesson from this book. show less

This book centers around the story of Little Turtle and his Uncle Old Bear who were traveling through the woods. His Uncle begins to tell him about the folklore of many different sacred places for Native Americans and significance and meaning behind their stories. This book offers a lot of great insight into Native American culture and gives excellent lessons on how to respect nature. It includes stories attributed to several Native American tribes, including one from the Abenaki tribe, which was my family's ancestral tribe.

A beautifully illustrated collection of Native American creation stories, including the tribe names and locations. Each story is accompanied by gorgeous landscape paintings of sacred places across North America and has a nice layout. I think this would be a great for a child that is into mythology, but maybe has only been exposed to the typical Greek and Roman stories.

Summary: This book was alright, it was my least favorite out of the 6 traditional tales we were assigned to read. It mainly focused on the special places that hold religious or spiritual or traditional significance to the Native Americans. One interesting aspect was that the illustrations were so beautiful- aside from a rather advanced literary content, the pictures would definitely help capture the attention of a younger reader!

Personal commentary/ reflection: It was nice to read a traditional tale book that shifted away from the folklore content that I was reading so much of, however I didn't find myself super interested in reading about the geological places of significance to the Native American tribes in this book. The picture were show more beautiful though! show less

With grace and drama, Abenaki poet and author Joseph Bruchac retells traditional native legends of ten of America's most awe-inspiring natural landscapes. These wise stories, together with Thomas Locker's luminous paintings, evoke the essential spiritual power of the earth. A full-color map charting the homelands of nearly two hundred North American tribes is included.