Our featured November books this year, 2008, are Native American tales and legends. The second grades are studying many of them now. Many more related legends are on our October 2002 page of books by Bruchac. This is an update of our list from last November.
Coyote and the Fire Stick: A Pacific Northwest Indian Tale, retold by Barbara Diamond Goldin, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, Gulliver Books, Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, NY, 1996
This Indian legend explains how Coyote, who is very crafty, helps the people find fire to keep themselves warm, cook food, and provide light, by outsmarting three evil spirits that guard fire.
Coyote and the Laughing Butterflies, retold and illustrated by Harriet Peck Taylor, Macmillan Books for Young Readers, New York, NY, 1995
This Tewa Indian legend explains how some butterflies tricked coyote and laughed so hard at their joke that they could not fly straight from that time on.
How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet: Native American Animal Origin Stories , Collected and retold by Gerald Hausman, illustrated by Ashley Wolff, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 1995
Seven stories that describe how the animals, Coyote, Bat, Lizard, Hawk, Horse, Possum, and Chipmunk acquired the destinctive features that they have today, and their roles as Native American symbols.
How Chipmunk Got His Stripes: A Tale of Bragging and Teasing, by Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac, pictures by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 2001
In a story common to several eastern Native American tribal traditions, this recounts what happened when Bear and Brown Squirrel disagree on whether Bear can stop the sun from rising.
Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale About How Fire Came to the People, retold by Jonathan London, illustrated by Sylvia Long, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA 1993
With the help of other animals, Wise Old Coyote manages to acquire fire from the wicked Yellow Jacket sisters in this tale from the Kalmath River area of California. The bibliography at its end has other good books about the Karuk and related tribes.
How Turtle's Back Was Cracked: A Traditional Cherokee Tale, retold by Gayle Ross, paintings by Murv Jacob, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 1995
Turtle's shell is cracked when the wolves plot to stop his boastful ways, but turtle manages to escape being cooked for soup with some quick thinking.
Brother Wolf: A Seneca Tale, retold and illustrated by Harriet Peck Taylor, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, NY, 1996
When Raccoon plays a trick on Wolf and covers Wolf's eyes, Wolf enlists the help of several birds to peck off the covering over his eyes, and rewards the birds by painting their feathers.
The First Strawberies: A Cherokee Story, retold by Joseph Bruchac, pictures by Anna Vojtech, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 1993
A quarrel between the first man and first woman is only reconciled when the sun causes strawberries to grow out of the earth.
How Thunder and Lightning Came to Be: A Choctaw Legend, retold by Beatrice Orcutt Harrell, collages by Susan L. Roth, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 1995
Two very large and silly birds accidentally create thunder and lightning, when they are asked by the Great Sun Father to find a way to warn the Choctaw people of coming rainstorms so they could seek shelter.
How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend, by Jerrie Oughton, illustrated by Lisa Desimini, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 1992
When the First Woman wants to use the stars to write the laws in the night sky for all to see, trickster coyote just flings them leading to tumbling stars.
Raccoon's Last Race: A Traditional Abenaki Story, as told by Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac, pictures by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 2004
Azban the Raccoon, the fastest animal on earth, looses his speed because he is boastful and breaks his promises, in this cautionary tale that sometimes was used rather than physical punishment, as a means of encouraging good behavior in Abenaki children.
The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story, retold by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated in collage by Susan L. Roth, Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY, 1994
Bat, who has both wings and teeth, plays an important part in a ball game, like lacrosse, between the Birds and the Animals to decide which group is better, in this Muskogee legend which also has Ojibway and Cherokee and other variants.
The Legend of the Lady Slipper: A Ojibwe Tale by Lise Lunge-Larsen and Margi Preus, illustrated by Andrea Arroyo, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 1999
In this retelling of an Ojibwe tale, a girl's act of bravery to save her family leads to the appearance in the world of the delicate and tender flower called the lady slipper.
These are links to all our Estabrook Library book lists from other months and years.
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