Fox Song

by Joseph Bruchac

After the passing of her great-grandmother, a young Indian girl recalls the times they spent together -- peeling birch barks for baskets and hunting fox tracks in the snow -- in a moving celebration of the love between the young and the old and the beauty of the natural world.

"Bruchac sees no need to cheat accuracy to reach the spiritual world of his Abenaki Indian heritage in Fox Song". -- The New York Times Book Review

"An important counterbalance to the many books which show Native Americans as relics of history". -- Horn Book

"Story and art together make a rich combination that will move adults reading this aloud as much as it does the children who hear it". -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Genres: Picture Books, Death, Cultural, Native American, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret, and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his wife, Carol, he is the founder and Co-Director of the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief. Forthcoming titles include Squanto's Journey (Harcourt), a picture book, Sacajawea (Harcourt), an historical novel, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee & Low), a picture book, and Pushing Up The Sky (Dial), a collection of plays for children. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee Nation Prose Award, the Knickerbocker Award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children's Literature and both the 1998 Writer of the Year Award and the 1998 Storyteller of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Reviews

[Ch_jank-caporale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jamie, the main character, is both French-American and Abenaki. In Fox Song, Jamie spends the day remembering the time she spent with her great grandmother, learning the ways of her people, the values of living in harmony with nature, and the respect one learns from spending special time with elders. Jamie’s Grama is no longer alive but the memories and her lessons keep Jamie company even when she’s alone.

Fox Song is a beautiful book that recalls the circle of life and passes along important values of family and respect. The painted illustrations present a modern family in a rural setting who happen to be Abenaki. aside from the words of fox’s song that Grama teaches Jamie, they could be your family, or mine. If only mine were as special!

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruchac (Abenaki) is a prolific and acclaimed storyteller. Coupled with Morin’s award winning paintings we have an intergenerational reflection on the cycle of life told in a kind and gentle manner. Highly recommended for a child who has experienced the loss of a grandparent.

[Lori]

A charming story about the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter and the special bond they share. Beautifully illustrated.

[Elizabeth]

As with SkySisters , I appreciate that this is a story about Native Americans, and clearly rooted in Native American culture, that's not About (TM) The Native American experience.

This one is about a young girl grieving the death of her great-grandmother, remembering their shared experiences and what her great-grandmother had taught her. I got all teary at the end. (And the final illustration is beautiful.)

The illustrations are warm or cool, depending what's being depicted, but they all feel alive and welcoming.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fox Song" is a good book to read to children, especially if they have ever lost a loved one. This story is about a young girl and how she misses her grandmother. Even though her grandmother is gone, the girl still feels that she is always with her. For independent reading this book would be more appropriate for more advanced readers. This book could be used to help represent Native American culture within your classroom library.

[Marika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really touching story. I appreciated the focus on a relationship between a grandparent and grandchild, and the way that potentially difficult themes of death were handled. This is a beautiful story focusing on the long lasting nature of love and that those you truly care about will never be entirely lost to you.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a little girl who's grandmother passes away. The little girl has dreams about the good times she spent with her grandmother and recalls the many things that she taught her. This is a great book for anyone who has lost a family member or loved one.

[Dominic Dowd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very well written book. I thought it was very touching and had a lot of emotion to it. I also liked how the story story was told. Many of us have lost somebody in our lives and we all find ways to keep them close to our hearts.

[Rachel Holloway]

This book can fall into a lot of categories. However, the prominent Native American culture that is in the book makes it a good diversity book. A young girl's great-grandmother passes away and she reminisces the times that she spent with her.

[Jazzmyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fox song is about a little girl who misses her great great grandmother, and she talks about how life was with her great great grandmother around. I would use this book to start a conversation and journal writing about the grandparents, particularly around Grandparents Day.

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a great connection for students who may have had a loved one pass away. Death is a difficult issue to address. Creating a classroom environment that is supportive and nurturing may just be what a certain student needs at the current moment.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

In progress review...
Cute story, strange pictures

[Sara Carmona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diverse. This book could be used for a couple different things. It could be used to talk about specific Native American culture and history. It could also be used as a lesson on inferencing. It never specifically says that the girl's grandma dies, but we can inference that based on the memories, the way her parents respect her quiet, her grandma's absence at the end, and what the fox's appearance at the end means. It can also be used to make connections to students' lives, and what experiencing loss feels like.