The Legend of Wisconsin

by Kathy-jo Wargin, David Geister (Illustrator)

The great Gitchee Manitou has sent Nanabush the Giant Hare to the new north country to give the first animals their names and special markings. But trickster that he is, Nanabush prefers to play silly games. When Ahmik the Giant Beaver lures Nanabush into a chase across the newly formed land and water, their game etches out a beautiful wonderland of islands and ponds and lakes. Readers young and old will enjoy the legend behind the creation of the state whose very name Wisk-on-sin means "place of the beaver."Kathy-jo Wargin's most recent picture book honoring the spirit of Wisconsin is The Legend of Old Abe: A Civil War Eagle. Her other books include B is for Badger: AWisconsin Alphabet and The Legend of the Lady's Slipper (Upper Midwest Bookseller's Favorite). Afrequent speaker throughout the country, Kathy-jo lives with her family in Petoskey, Michigan. David Geister also collaborated with Kathy-jo Wargin on The Legend of Minnesota and The Voyageur's Paddle. David is a popular visitor at schools with his costumed portrayals of historic characters. A Wisconsin native, he now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2007

About the author

Kathy-jo Wargin is the bestselling author of more than fifty books for adults and children. With more than 1.2 million copies sold, she writes across genres and age-groups, and has earned national recognition for award–winning titles such as Michigan’s Official State Children’s Book The Legend of Sleeping Bear, the International Reading Association’s Children's Choice Award Winner The Legend of the Loon, the Bank Street College of Education Best Book Listee The Voyageur’s Paddle, the IRA Teacher's Choice Award Winner Win One for the Gipper, and many more.

Reviews

[Zoey MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Legend of Wisconsin, a story that is believed how Wisconsin came to be. The story is unrealistic to those believing in science. However, the natives of the land believe in such amazing stories of how their land came to be, with different gods and spirits to where this story flows, and can be believable. That is the purpose of legends, they have over egasuarted details that do make perfect sense because of the time and era they came about.
However using this story in a classroom setting might be hard. I would take this out of the context of the legend itself and use it to portray different ways land came about and how it was created. Giving students a fun geography lesson where the details are extreme on how land came about can make the learning more fun and exciting. Using this for a geography lesson can also give the students a metaphor of the different creates that created each part of the land. Such as how the serpent created rivers, gorges, and waterfalls to get to the ocean, which is also not said to be such things. In using the animals as metaphor can also have students remember the topics better than just giving them the straight definitions.
While this story does not give straight definitions the is the main point of legends. They are told to be true. Being created by natives, science was not an idea of the time of them. They truly believed the stories they told, and those stories get passed down. Even today the story does not make sense, however, the ideas that made the story are true. Making this story the perfect legend to be told and passed on.

[Karmen Smallcombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Legend of Wisconsin" tells a story about a Great Hare called Nanabush, he was sent to Earth to name the first animals and teach them how to be kind and helpful towards one another. The legend told about this trickster originated from the Algonquin people of the Great Lakes and explains how nature in those areas came to be. I enjoyed how the story used animals characteristics to tell the story, for example the Hare passes by a black bear. The bear starts chasing the Hare because he remembers how Nanabush had swatted his nose once. We are used to bears being a predator and hunting their prey but in the story the bear is chasing the Hare for a reason. I love the detail in the illustrations, they are so realistic and it makes this legend feel so real. I would love to share this book, I am from the midwest so I thought it was very interesting to learn about how the great lakes came about according to this ancient story.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nanabush the Giant Hare and Ahmik the Giant Beaver like to play tricks on each other, and eventually a chase ensues. While Nanabush is trying to catch Ahmik, they are carving and changing the land. All of their shenanigans cause different parts of Wisconsin - the Great Lakes, the Dells, and the Apostle Islands to name a few.

An interesting look at one legend about how Wisconsin was formed. I do enjoy learning more about different legends and stories, so this was enjoyable from that aspect.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the images, both pictorial and mentally of the beaver tail and serpent creating the lakes.