Native American Animal Stories

By Joseph Bruchac

Book Overview

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 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, and personal relationships...We must carefully accord these other creatures the respect that they deserve and the right to live

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555911277
• ISBN13: 9781555911270
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.9" x 9.9"
• Age Range: 7 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 2 and higher

Customer Reviews

Native animal stories

This could have been a much longer book, since there is an almost endless number of Native American stories dealing with animals. Bruchac made a good selection, though, and the stories of a wide variety of North American native peoples are represented here. All of them show the importance of animals to the Native Americans in that they are central to creation myths, as well as tales of friendship and those providing numerous survival instructions. Bruchac kept the prose simple, making this book ideal for children. Also useful is the glossary at the end, and the descriptions of tribal nations which provide a great deal of useful information on the major North American peoples.