Native American Animal Stories

by Joseph Bruchac

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The Papago Indians of the American Southwest say butterflies were created to gladden the hearts of children and chase away thoughts of aging and death. How the Butterflies Came to Be is one of twenty-four Native American tales included in Native American Animal Stories. The stories, coming from Mohawk, Hopi, Yaqui, Haida and other cultures, demonstrate the power of animals in Native American traditions. Parents, teachers and children will delight in lovingly told stories about "our show more relations, the animals." The stories come to life through magical illustrations by Mohawk artists John Kahionhes Fadden and David Fadden."The stories in this book present some of the basic perspectives that Native North American parents, aunts and uncles use to teach the young. They are phrased in terms that modern youngsters can understand and appreciate ... They enable us to understand that while birds and animals appear to be similar in thought processes to humans, that is simply the way we represent them in our stories. But other creatures do have thought processes, emotions, personal relationships...We must carefully ccord these other creatures the respect that they deserve and the right to live show less

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3 reviews
I really liked this collection of stories. It covered many different aspects and I had never really looked into Native American tales. I really enjoyed these and the pictures that went along with them. They weren't throughout the stories but they gave you just enough to see the picture. I thought the writing was the strongest part in the book.
This book is a collection of tales about different animals in Native American traditions and the roles that they play. I enjoy Native American Animal Stories because of its unique and varying tales and would want to teach the book in my classroom to expose children to a type of literature that I think most would not be familiar with. I think this book would be appropriate conceptually for students Grades 2-5 and I would teach it within themes about animals, oral storytelling, or traditional beliefs of different cultures. For this book in particular, I believe that the way I taught it theme wise would vary greatly depending on the age I was teaching.
soft cover, "from Keepers of the Animals"

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Nice Anthologies for Kids
66 works; 3 members

Author Information

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196+ Works 29,012 Members
Joseph Bruchac, author of more than seventy books for children and adults, is also an acclaimed storyteller and poet. He has received many prestigious literary awards, including the American Book Award, the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of The Americas

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Classifications

DDC/MDS
398.2Society, government, & cultureCustoms, etiquette & folkloreFolklore & FolktalesFolk literature
LCC
E98 .F6 .B895History of the United StatesAmericaIndians of North America
BISAC

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Members
267
Popularity
121,621
Reviews
3
Rating
(4.20)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
4