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Native American Animal Stories
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, personal relationships...We must carefully ccord these other creatures the respect that they deserve and the right to live without unnecessary harm. Wanton killings of different animals by some hunters and sportsmen are completely outside the traditional way that native people have treated other species, and if these stories can help develop in young people a strong sense of the wonder of other forms of life, this sharing of Native North American knowledge will certainly have been worth the effort." —excerpt from the forward by Vine Deloria, Jr.
These stories first appeared in Keepers of the Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
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, personal relationships...We must carefully ccord these other creatures the respect that they deserve and the right to live without unnecessary harm. Wanton killings of different animals by some hunters and sportsmen are completely outside the traditional way that native people have treated other species, and if these stories can help develop in young people a strong sense of the wonder of other forms of life, this sharing of Native North American knowledge will certainly have been worth the effort." —excerpt from the forward by Vine Deloria, Jr.
These stories first appeared in Keepers of the Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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490 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Bruchac
279 books597 followersJoseph 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 22, 2017
A few explanatory notes
This book is extracted from a larger book called Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children. The titles tell you how they are different. Animal Stories is nothing but animal stories. Keepers of the Animals is designed for teachers, and it contains activities and discussion questions.
Contents:
2 introductory essays
a map of American Indian tribes
24 folktales with full-page black and white illustrations
3 generous appendices including a glossary of terms, descriptions of the tribes mentioned in the book, and a list of variant folk tales
The first essay, by Vine Deloria Jr., is dull. It says that American Indians have a spiritual connection with animals. Joseph Bruchac's essay, on the other hand, is a pleasure. It takes the same topic and develops it with examples from folklore and Bruchac's experience. Bruchac's essay should be used as a mentor text in essay writing techniques.
The first half dozen folk tales are disappointing. They are so brief that they read more like summaries than stories, and they do not create an impression on the reader. Starting with the "Feathers and Fur, Scales and Skin" section, however, the book comes to life. If you like folklore, then you will find much to enjoy here. I appreciate the variety of story types- just-so stories, parables, teaching stories, and even a hero tale named "Manabozho and the Woodpecker" that would sit well next to tales about Beowulf and Siegfried.
Recommended.
This book is extracted from a larger book called Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children. The titles tell you how they are different. Animal Stories is nothing but animal stories. Keepers of the Animals is designed for teachers, and it contains activities and discussion questions.
Contents:
2 introductory essays
a map of American Indian tribes
24 folktales with full-page black and white illustrations
3 generous appendices including a glossary of terms, descriptions of the tribes mentioned in the book, and a list of variant folk tales
The first essay, by Vine Deloria Jr., is dull. It says that American Indians have a spiritual connection with animals. Joseph Bruchac's essay, on the other hand, is a pleasure. It takes the same topic and develops it with examples from folklore and Bruchac's experience. Bruchac's essay should be used as a mentor text in essay writing techniques.
The first half dozen folk tales are disappointing. They are so brief that they read more like summaries than stories, and they do not create an impression on the reader. Starting with the "Feathers and Fur, Scales and Skin" section, however, the book comes to life. If you like folklore, then you will find much to enjoy here. I appreciate the variety of story types- just-so stories, parables, teaching stories, and even a hero tale named "Manabozho and the Woodpecker" that would sit well next to tales about Beowulf and Siegfried.
Recommended.
August 30, 2021
This was a wonderful collection.
If you get this collection please do not skip the forward by Vine Deloria Jr. nor the introduction by Joseph Bruchac himself. Both contextualize the tales that follow and allow you a better understanding of the import behind which you are reading. These stories are not simply stories - they are lessons about a way of being and how to see the world itself. Bruchach and Deloria explain that, and I feel it is as important to understand that as it is to read the stories themselves.
The stories are a wide collection of tales from various North American tribes. All of the stories you will find in here have been collected elsewhere, but Bruchac has rewritten them to his liking and to better convey the messages therein. They are intensely readable, and keenly interesting. The stories are loosely divided based upon theme, and let me tell you, the final stories will utterly break your heart. They are good stories, fit for being read aloud or to yourself. They're wroth remembering, and they will stick in your mind once they are done.
Where this book truly succeeds, in my opinion, beyond the simple diversity of the collection itself is in the backmatter of the book. There is a guide for pronouncing the tribal names, and a map of where their territories were. There are paragraphs written about each of the tribes that sets them further within context and allows you to learn more. All of this is wonderful, and I feel it would be great for anyone reading it to leave having learned a good bit more about indigenous communities.
If you get this collection please do not skip the forward by Vine Deloria Jr. nor the introduction by Joseph Bruchac himself. Both contextualize the tales that follow and allow you a better understanding of the import behind which you are reading. These stories are not simply stories - they are lessons about a way of being and how to see the world itself. Bruchach and Deloria explain that, and I feel it is as important to understand that as it is to read the stories themselves.
The stories are a wide collection of tales from various North American tribes. All of the stories you will find in here have been collected elsewhere, but Bruchac has rewritten them to his liking and to better convey the messages therein. They are intensely readable, and keenly interesting. The stories are loosely divided based upon theme, and let me tell you, the final stories will utterly break your heart. They are good stories, fit for being read aloud or to yourself. They're wroth remembering, and they will stick in your mind once they are done.
Where this book truly succeeds, in my opinion, beyond the simple diversity of the collection itself is in the backmatter of the book. There is a guide for pronouncing the tribal names, and a map of where their territories were. There are paragraphs written about each of the tribes that sets them further within context and allows you to learn more. All of this is wonderful, and I feel it would be great for anyone reading it to leave having learned a good bit more about indigenous communities.
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March 14, 2023Book Review by MB
I’ve been reading a text called the Native American stories by Joseph Bruchac.This text is about a girl along
time ago.She had powers.I would recommend the book because it has scary ghosts I feel
This way because the lady would use her powers on the dog and the boy would use the ghost powers and strength… introduction
I would recommend my book the native american stories because if you like magical stories and books than
You would like this book…reason 1 - My evidence of my book being magical is the lady made a rainbow circle … Another evidence of my book being magical is that a long time ago the lady would go to people and they would fly…
I would recommend my book to a friend the native american stories
‘I would recommed my free choice text to a friend because it has ghosts and powers and the dog has powers. This text will make the reader's mind explode and go crazy….conclusion
I’ve been reading a text called the Native American stories by Joseph Bruchac.This text is about a girl along
time ago.She had powers.I would recommend the book because it has scary ghosts I feel
This way because the lady would use her powers on the dog and the boy would use the ghost powers and strength… introduction
I would recommend my book the native american stories because if you like magical stories and books than
You would like this book…reason 1 - My evidence of my book being magical is the lady made a rainbow circle … Another evidence of my book being magical is that a long time ago the lady would go to people and they would fly…
I would recommend my book to a friend the native american stories
‘I would recommed my free choice text to a friend because it has ghosts and powers and the dog has powers. This text will make the reader's mind explode and go crazy….conclusion
June 22, 2019
Enjoyable light reading, educational. Not necessarily for kids only but suitable to them. It's interesting at how many myth, fable, and story-telling tropes are in these as well as others all over the planet. The trickster stories, the nature origin stories, the brash hero, etc.
December 22, 2021
Lovely variety of stories
April 21, 2023
Excellent start to native American myths. Children and youth groups will love it.
October 22, 2024
An excellent collection of Native American stories. These were beautiful and engaging.
March 16, 2011
This book is a must for 4th grade especially when studying the Westward Expansion and the impact on Native American or anything to do with this country so being discovered. These are stories that tell of their beliefs and relationship with their Creator, it gives the reader a taste of their myths tat are drawn from their culture.A common thread throughout is their view of the world.The believed in maintaining balance with nature. Each story has a really beautiful illustration. Great for giving Native Americans a say with their own voice.
March 29, 2017
This was a decent collection. The stories were interesting but felt told in an overly simplified manner. I usually prefer native american stories to be fully illustrated (since we no longer have the benefit of hearing them in the right setting) but there were only a few illustrations in black and white. I actually liked the two introductions better than the rest of the book.
July 12, 2013
There was a great section at the back of the book that told a brief history of about 20 different native cultures which I thought was so well done and just as valuable as the stories themselves. Looking forward to visiting the Smithsonian museum about Native people next month and continuing our learning!!
November 15, 2023
Native American Animal Stories
Bruchac, Joseph
This is a novel collection of stories taking from various Native American cultures. The author is one of my favorite native authors. His ability to capture the culture is second nature. The story shows many of the renown native tribes.
October 15, 2012
I absolutely adore learning about Native American stories and traditions which made this book extremely enjoyable for me. I love Native American's respect for nature and all living things. I would recommend this book for people of all ages!
September 19, 2010
Joseph Bruchac's retellings are wonderful. I have been sharing his stories with students for years. I will be reading "When the Turtle Flew South for the Winter" aloud next week.
September 8, 2012
A delightful book for all ages who want to explore their Native American roots.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews