Chipmunk Jumped Over Him: A Coming of Age Story

by Fenton R. Kay

It is many years after the climate change catastrophe. The people that survive on the edge of the Great Basin Desert have adopted many Native American traditions; traditions that allow them to continue to live successfully in an arid and harsh land. Among those traditions is the coming of age journey. Boys, at 15 years of age, travel with Coyote, the Trickster, into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Vincent, with Trickster, goes on his sojourn and deals with everyday issues of living in the wild. He is set the task of destroying an ancient monster. Vincent defeats an evil Shaman with help from Trickster, Chipmunk, and other creatures. He outsmarts another trickster, Raven, and returns to where his grandfather awaits him, a confident young man.

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2019

About the author

I am a retired biologist with 50+ years of experience. I have 22 publications in the professional scientific literature. If you care, you can see them at www.researchgate.net/profile/Fenton_Kay. I have had four poems published in a Las Vegas newspaper - a very long time ago. More recently, I have had several poems and three Haiga published online at eskimopie.net. I have an author's webpage/blog at kaylibros.casa. I have a facebook page at facebook.com/KayratSpeaks/.

I like to putter about in the yard, fish occasionally, and travel. My wife's hobby is renovating old (100 year+) houses and I get caught up in that. That's what I get for being a bit of a handyman. I have two daughters and four grandchildren - equal numbers of boys and girls. Our household currently consists of my wife & I, 2 grandsons, 4 dogs, 9 cats, 1 guinea pig, 1 red-eared slider turtle, and 5 aquaria ... and I teach online for two universities.

Reviews

[Amanda Stuntz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vincent is on his journey to manhood with coyote (trickster) as his guide. The story starts off good but soon becomes repetitive. They travel, eat, and sleep. As they go they meet different animals. The only break in this was when he fought the kicking monster and when he raced gambler.
Vincent really never changed while we was on his journey. It felt like he started his journey to manhood already a man, and ended it the same man as when he started. Everything came too easy. There was always food and a place to rest, and he never really learned anything as he traveled.
I did enjoy the tales that were woven throughout the story about how things came to be. Overall the story dragged along, and was a little boring.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vincent is going on his manhood journey, accompanied by The Trickster coyote. The grandfathers taught him well about respect for the Earth and animals. Vincent does well dealing with all the animals he meets. He listens and learns from all.
This is a book based on American Indian lore and history. It is very well presented and easy to read. It is very interesting learning about how Native Americans grew to respect the land they live on, the animals they share their land with.
I really liked this story.

[Timothy Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly this story was written for a younger audience. The prose is simply written and there is enough development of character, conflict, and foreshadowing to hold a younger reader’s attention.

Employing Native American traditions, such as a boy setting of on a journey to manhood, this story feels very familiar. It reminds me of a story I read in which the Native American male underwent a rite of passage through what I believe is a vision quest. I think that context is done well enough.

But, as for the intended audience, perhaps no older than fifth grade, I’m not so sure the story is complex enough to hold their attention.

I think it’s an all around good read, though the prose is a little too repetitive for my taste.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasant and interesting story of a young Native American boy and his coyote guide that travel on a journey as the boy's rite of passage to adulthood. It is filled with information on the animals they encounter, ancient tales of how the world evolved and the dangers along their path. It's a fun and easy read that children would enjoy along with quite a bit of knowledge they will acquire about the natural world.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway for this honest review.

[Brandon Ellrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and entertaining

I have never read a story like this one. I found it interesting and wanted to see it through to the end. It was well written and the various fables were unique. It felt almost Dystopian in some of the references and I would have liked to hear some more of the back story. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Native American culture, folklore or coming-of-age journeys.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book as a whole but I truly loved learning as I went on. Majority of the small stories were stories from Native Americans so it was nice go learn about different cultures. It was interesting to learn about what becoming a young man turned out to be. Although short, I sped through this one pretty quick.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Good story. Good characters.