How Two-Feather Was Saved from Loneliness

by C.J. Taylor

The Native peoples of North America told many stories to explain the world around them. One of the loveliest is the Abenaki legend of how both fire and corn came into the world. It is retold here in unusally evocative paintings by a female Mohawk artist of exceptional talent.

Genres: Picture Books

24 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1990

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taylor is Mohawk. She is telling an Abenaki story that she acquired from a storytelling book collection. I live next to Mohawks, work with Mohawks, have Mohawk friends. I just don’t understand Taylor’s hesitance in telling Mohawk stories. She’s a great painter but what she needed to do ( this book is 29 years old) was visit her family, her aunties, her uncles and cousins in Mohawk communities and collect Mohawk stories with permission firsthand, face to face. It feels like she read a book and sat in a studio and painted this. Retelling an Abenaki story from a book is inauthentic no matter how well illustrated the book is. I’ve read 103 indigenous children’s books in the last 6 weeks and the problems that emerged were outright cultural appropriation and now with Taylor the false path to acquiring a story for the purpose of retelling. Too much reading of secondary material. 2 stars.

[Jasmine Stocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Indian traditional literature piece about how they first discovered how to make fire and grow corn. I love the different stories that come about and tell how things became what they are today. Very short and sweet. It's to the point and is interesting enough to keep students interested and it's an easy enough read for students to read and understand by themselves.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A legend of the Abenaki people (An Algonquin-speaking people group of Quebec and the Maritimes as well as New England)
C.J Taylor’s lovely paintings help to tell the story of Two-Feather who, with the assistance of an unnamed female spirit creates fire and plants the first corn, bringing the people together into a tribe of farmers rather than nomadic hunter-gatherers. It is a decent story for young children to introduce them to a native folklore, however it did not move me in any way, nor was it particularly memorable.