Flute Player : An Apache Folktale

by Michael Lacapa

Retells the Indian tale of how a young brave, whose sweetheart becomes ill and dies while he is on his first hunt, continues to serenade her grave with his flute

Genres: Native American

Library Binding

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

When picking out this book it's cover was not something that caught my attention. It had a person playing the flute and a leaf at the bottom of the page. But like my mother always said don't judge a book by its covers. For this book you learn about a flute player and a girl. She overheard his music one day and is very impressed by it . As they soon find that they're both found for each other they want to see one another more . But there is something that interfers with that.


My favorite visual element about this the shape. They make everything so unique within the book. My favorite is in the book how they make the sun beaming off the page . It's shape is so unique and different . Also the color is very different some pages are very dark and calming and others are very bright. For example they have the man playing the flute and vibrant colors around him . And on the next page you see him sitting on rocks that are very dark and calming .

For visual element I really like characterization . It was very simple with the character it was the girl . She was beautiful woman from the village . And there was a man that played the flute . They didn't go in much detail with the two but gave enough information to learn about one another . For point of view it really made you appreciate what you had in the moment of time . People think someone will be there forever and reality you never know when the last time you will see someone .

While reading this book it was very easy to telling what kind of traditional tale this was. It was a myth tale , that is when it has been passed down and something that has been heard of and told many times . For example they said , " listen to that beautiful sound . It sounds like the wind blowing through the tree." That is what it has been told when going down to the canyon. All in all this book was very good but yet had a shocking end to it. Especially being a picture book made for younger viewers it had me at aww as well. I would recommend this book for classrooms and for parents as well.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting folk story, but I urge caution with readers who may be too young. Sometimes young people think losing a romantic partner is the end of the world. It's not.

[Erica Seely]

I loved this book. I read it quite fast but I want to read it again so that I can use this book in my classroom. I loved this book because it was one about love, and never ending love. It also had so much history because of the Apache tradition. I loved the idea about using music to help soothe a broken heart. If I could, I would use this in my classroom and incorporate music when telling this story.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated Apache Indian Story. An old Apache Folktale about a boy and a girl meeting at a ceremonial dance and falling in love. Unfortunately the girl dies but the boy will remember her and plays his flute where she was buried. A great multicultural addition for a lesson on American Indian Traditions in North America, or can be used to teach text features such as characters, etc.

[Maggie Gilmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wooden flute echos from the canyon. People of the village try to figure out what is that sound?, and who is playing that?. This book can be used to teach students different folktales around the world.