When Clay Sings

by Byrd Baylor, Tom Bahti (Illustrator)

Pieces of broken pots are scattered over the desert hillsides of the Southwest. The Indians there treat them with respect -- "Every piece of clay is a piece of someone's life," they say. And the children try to imagine those lives that took place in the desert they think of as their own.
Clay has its own small voice, and sings. Its song has lasted for thousands of years. And Byrd Baylor's prose-poem as simple and powerful as the clay pots, sings too.

Genres: Picture Books, Native American, Poetry, History, Art, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Byrd Baylor has always lived in the Southwest, mainly in Southern Arizona near the Mexican border. She is at home with the southwestern desert cliffs and mesas, rocks and open skies. She is comforted by desert storms. The Tohono O’odham people, previously known as the Papagos, are her neighbors and close friends. She has focused many of her writings on the region’s landscape, peoples, and values. Through her books of rhythmic prose poetry, written primarily for children, she celebrates the beauty of nature and her own feelings of rapport with it.
Byrd has written many books for children.

Her books have been honored with many prestigious children’s book awards, including the Caldecott Award and the Texas Bluebonnet Award. All of her books are full of the places and the peoples that she knows. She thinks of these books as her own kind of private love songs to the place she calls home.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the imagination in this one. It’s about dreaming and speculating about the past when people find parts of these old clay pots from long ago. The artwork is in the style of the pottery that is found in the 4 corners area of the USA. I think this is wonderful. A neat blend of history and story and art.

I loved this line from the story. “Indians who find this pottery today say that everything has its own spirit- even a broken pot. They say the clay remembers the hands that made it.” That line just gives me chills. All to often I forget that and just use things, but I do agree that all things have a spirit, especially anything working with us. I think we infuse our spirit into the object. This is such a powerful reminder of that.

The kids were less impressed by it than I was. The niece enjoyed the artwork and it’s funny that she picked out the Kokopeli figure from the artwork and said she liked that. It is a powerful figure people are drawn too. She didn’t think a whole lot of the story - kids playing with broken pottery, what’s the point. Sigh. She gave it 2 stars. The nephew was even worse. ‘It’s not funny and who cares about pottery. I don’t like it.’ Well, that’s their honest opinion. The nephew gave it 1 star.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I have indeed both liked and appreciated Tom Bahti's Caldecott Honour winning illustrations (they are expressive, seem authentic to my eyes, with their black, brown and occasionally yellow colour schemes truly making one feel as though one is in fact looking at bona fide clay shards, at actual vestiges of Native American pasts), Byrd Baylor's poems, while most definitely interesting and informative (and also obviously trying very hard to be respectful) still to and for me have rather too much of a paternalistic substratum present at times (with Native American children and their families appearing more like subjects to be analysed and studied by outsiders and thus not really being given their own voices, being granted the important opportunity to actually tell their stories, their personal experiences). And sorry, but some of the poems contained in, featured in When Clay Sings have actually and very uncomfortably felt rather problematically condescending and with a certain sense of an all-knowing "well, we white people do know better" (or at least this has been my personal reaction when I for instance read the poem about the "medicine man" as to my eyes and to my ears Byrd Baylor seems to describe the medicine man as though his ministrations to an ill Native American boy are simply "magic" and thus unrealistic, perhaps even rather naive).

Now while I would not go so far as to not recommend When Clay Sings (as Byrd Baylor's texts, her poems, do contain much of potential interest and Tom Bahti's accompanying illustrations are indeed spectacular) the author's presented poems do warrant discussion and the I think necessary warning that if I have found some of Byrd Baylor's attitudes and words paternalistic and sometimes potentially negative and condescendingly critical, even if this is most probably unintentional from the author, how would Native Americans themselves feel (and WHY is When Clay Sings so inherently and massively generalising, why do the poems seem to basically talk as though ALL Native Americans were and are somehow one and the same, one all encomapssing huge entity, when there are and always have been many nations, many different Native American tribes, each with distinct cultures, histories, stories and lifestyles, and this also holds true for the area of the American Southwest, on which the narrative and accompanying pictorial renderings of When Clay Sings appear to be based).

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, spirited interpretation of the ceramics and imagery of ancient people of the Southwest USA: the Anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam, and Mimbres cultures.
Recommended.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither the poem nor illustrations appealed to me, although the concept - of trying to imagine who used found shards of pottery and what the designs and inscriptions meant to the owner - is interesting. Could be useful as a tie-in to an introduction to archeology.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I don't necessarily find the illustrations aesthetically pleasing, they definitely appear realístic and authentic (and the last page says the designs are all from prehistoric pottery of the Mogollon, Hohokam, Anasazi and Mimbres tribes). The language used in the text is poetic. Some lines I especially love:

"They say that every piece of clay is a piece of someone's life. They even say it has own small voice and sings in its own way."

"But they don't need words to know that there were speckled bugs and spotted bugs and bugs with shiny wings and pinchy bugs and jumpy bugs and bugs that had a thousand legs that liked to walk through grass..."

"Songs had to be powerful enough to make rain fall and winds blow and seeds sprout in the dark earth...Songs had to be powerful enough to keep warriors safe and lead the hunter to the deer and make summer always follow winter and hold the sun it's proper path across the sky and keep life moving on from tribe to tribe."

So, while I don't think this is a personal favorite, I certainly think it has merit.

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a required reading for my 5 yr old son's History class. We're currently on the unit about the history of America and so are starting with American Indians. He's finding the Indians fascinating and really enjoyed this book. He loved looking at the pictures and even colored his own pottery pot picture with paintings from the book. Next week we're going to make our own miniature teepee and go to a fall festival that has a stop called Pioneers in the park where they always have real teepee's set up and people actually live in them for a few days, so there are fires and beds and you can see how the Indians lived. We're very excited to go see it. I love when a book inspires learning. It really adds to the whole experience of education. Highly recommend this book for any children interested in American Indians, especially focused on the Southwestern portion of the US.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the desert hillsides of the Southwest, pieces of broken pots are scattered. The Indians there treat them with respect. "Every piece of clay is a piece of someone's life," they say. More specifically, the clay pieces are fragments of their history. Children try to imagine those lives that took place in the desert they think of as their own. Clay has its own small voice; it sings, if one is listening, and its song has lasted for thousands of years.

Byrd Baylor’s When Clay Sings is a prose-poem, written in stanzas of various lines. It does not rhyme, but there is a rhythm to the flow of words, particularly in the way the words are placed within the stanzas, forcing pauses between words and stresses for importance. Imagery is integral to the emphasis of the poem as well. Even without the cultural illustrations, the poem paints a vision of the past with descriptive word play and deep empathetic emotion. Like many narrative or prose poems, the topic itself—piecing together the lives of ancient Indians through prehistoric pottery—feels like an oral history, passed down generation to generation.

The traditions, geographic landscape, and history of Southwest Indian tribes from long ago are reflected beautifully in this poem. Using pottery as a touchstone with the past is a concrete and aesthetic way to connect with a cultural. With each repeat reading, I derived a new symbolic nuance.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The drawings by Tom Bahti are the greater strength of the book, depicting the terrain of the Southwest, but also the pottery buried in it, including geometric patterns, birds, insects, lizards, mammals, fish, humans in their activities, and spirits, all taken from existing pottery. The verse uncovers the story of the creation and use of the pottery and their creators, along with its being rediscovered by the contemporary descendents of the native peoples and creating an ongoing connection with them. In the native cosmology, the clay of the pottery has being and memory, so the verse is well matched to capture the life and song of the clay. Of Byrd Baylor's books, this is the strongest and most compelling I've read so far. This should have been a companion on our Southwest camping trip earlier in the year.

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me feel quiet and peaceful. It made me think about sand and desert and giant rock structures and art and the passing of time and cultures. It made me want to create something myself based on these illustrations. I loved the color scheme and the lines and swirls that connected the illustrations. I loved the illustrations - especially the fish and the circular medallions depicting the sun, moon, and whirlwinds.

A note at the end says: "Designs in this book are all derived from prehistoric Indian pottery from the American Southwest. The original work was done by ancient potters of the Anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam and Mimbres cultures." There is also a map indicating where the four cultures were in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. I would love to see the prehistoric Indian pottery that inspired these illustrations!

This won a Caldecott Honor in 1973.

[Richard (Rick) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a Caldecott winner, but I didn't like it that much. The story was pretty abstract for kids, and not really that interesting. The pictures were just ok too, even for the genre they were trying to fit into. If you like learning about Native American culture, you may like this, but otherwise maybe not.

[Crystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a favorite. I especially didn't like this section: "This child was sick and they called a medicine man to cure him. What magic is he using?" Magic?

Some of the illustrations are neat. They indicated that the designs they used were from specific groups: anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam and Mimbres and where those people lived.

Overall though, this is not a book I would purchase.

[Robert Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

**** Caldecott Honor (1973) ****

One long poem romanticising the pottery of ancient Southwest Native Americans. The imagery is interesting, but the book as a whole is not.

[Suzan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book for children who are interested in Native American culture, specifically pictures and designs found on prehistoric pottery found in the southwest.

[Elizabeth Roe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grade/interest level: Wide range depending on use/purpose (2nd to 7th)
Reading level: Lexile, AD880L
Genre: Poetry, Multicultural, Picture Book

Main Characters: Native Americans
Setting: No distinct setting
POV: Third person

This book is a long poem about different means of creativity for Native Americans in the Southwest region, with the primary focus being pottery. The best attribute to this book, in my opinion, is that the graphics used are actual replications of real work that was done by ancient Native American potters. The poem begins discussing the types of pottery made by the Native Americans and the purposes of the symbols used. It uses pottery to share what can be learned by looking at these pieces of artwork and using them to think about the lives of ancient Native Americans. It takes the reader into a creative way of thinking by considering where this pottery was created, who created it, the conditions in which it was created, and why it was created. Then the pottery shares the different symbols and animals that were used in the pottery. The book finishes with a description of songs and their importance to the ancient Native Americans.

This book’s lexile level suggested it to be read with 5th to 8th graders and also with adult direction. The issue with this, for me, is that I am not sure this would be very relevant or engaging for students of this age. I am not entirely opposed to using this book, but I would have to spend more time and research in discovering how it could be best utilized. It could be used in a poetry unit or an art unit or a unit on Native Americans. I can definitely see how it would be useful, but I would need to take more time to consider how to implement appropriately and successfully.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat better than In My Mother's House, but it deals with very similar ideas. The art in When Clay Sings is based on the art of four Native American groups: the Anasazi, the Hohokam, the Mimbres, and the Mogollon, and the poetic text describes what pottery from prehistoric times teaches us about those people. I think it's definitely more accessible than In My Mother's House, which seemed to repeat itself so much, and with such boring details, but it's still not among my favorites. I do appreciate, though, how careful the artist was to remain true to the original artwork, and I think that fact alone distinguishes from many other picture books.

[Stefanie Burns · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the different drawings in the book. As the book notes, the designs were "derived from prehistoric Indian pottery from the American Southwest." The original designs are interesting and I think kids would like them. It would be a fun lesson to read the book and try to recreate the designs. However, I found the text dry and oddly spaced.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the clay pots left behind by the first Americans. It is a sweet and informative look at the way they made pictures, and helps children to imagine being one of the people who are long gone.

[Christi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[Alex Ronnenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry-single poem book
Awards: Caldecott honor
Audience: grades 3-5
A. This book is a type of free verse poetry because it does not rhyme. Each stanza also varies in length as some stanzas are several lines long while others are very short. A single story is told throughout each poem and at the end of the book, they come together to tell the story of hieroglyphics in the Indian cave.
B. Sensory imagery is used when the author describes the children touching and listening to the pots. The children were kneeling in the sand while touching pieces of broken pots. The children are said to have listened to the stories from the pots.
C. How would you create your own piece of pottery using symbols similar to those found in the text, what would it look like? (I would have the class make the picture they are describing below and write a short story about it)
- I would create a pot with horses running in the wild with Indians hunting. The Indians would be riding with arrows that they would be using to hunt animals like deer. I would use black paint to create the bodies of the horses and paint using my finger similar what Indians painted with. I would use brown and black as my two colors to demonstrate what the Indians used back then.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenges: Cozy in the Chaos Summer 2021 - Award Winner (5); Reading Goal Posts/21 in 2021 - Project Seventeen; Reading Goal Posts/Read My Shelf - Summer 7/20 books read. 1973 Caldecott Honoree, Tom Bahti fills this book with authentic designs found on pots produced by the prehistoric peoples of the American Southwest: the Hohokam, Anasazi, Colorado, and Mimbres peoples, precursors of the Native Americans still peopling the contemporary Southwest. Here, with Baylor's prose poetry, native children are taught by elders to respect the clay sherds and pots they find, to remember those who came before as they sang their songs to the clay for inspiration, to bring forth rain and the change of seasons, to provide their people with abundant hunts. As one who has found clay potsherds in my backyard as a child, and as an adult collected wild clay and formed pots as my far removed ancestors once did, this books fills me with appreciation for those who have gone before and those who have kept up the traditions as well as use clay in new ways.

[Amanda Shreve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary
Little kids digging in the sand find broken pottery. They are curious about the unusual drawings and what they mean. This book shows the relationship between past and presents while making comparisons between different eras. The clay has a voice of its own and a story to sing.
Evaluation
This book is a great peek into ancient worlds, but what really captures you is the amazing Illustrations by Tom Bahti. A Caldecott Honor book, the pages are filled with designs of prehistoric Indian pottery from the American Southwest. Drawings of original art work take up entire pages while the words blend into the background. I would recommend this book to teachers and parents alike. Its historic aspect is only the first layer of this book.
Teaching Point
I would use this book to teach an art integrated history lesson. This book would be a great segway into a lesson about Native American Culture and pottery.

[Hannah Falgout · Rating 2 out of 5]

"When Clay Sings" by Byrd Baylor illustrated by Tom Bahti.

I want to rate this book better, but I just can't. I found it very dull the illustrations were not my favorite, and I felt the story needed to be better developed. I am figuring out what the message of this book is because it is unclear to me. The book is about dreaming about what life was like for people in the past when some people found pieces and parts of ancient clay pots. There were some exciting parts of the story, like " even a broken pot remembers the hands that made it." This is a great story to use when talking about artifacts and archelogy; other than that not sure if kids will understand and enjoy this book.
The genre of this book is Historical fiction, which is made for older elementary children.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to review because I can tell that, especially for the time, the author was really *trying* to be respectful of the ancient tribes of the American Southwest. And the illustrations felt quite authentic and well-researched. However, the tone of the poetry was definitely condescending toward the people it is about. It felt like "oh, isn't this a quaint belief". I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because I don't think that author meant for that to be the case, but it is what it is.

[Maria Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

• 1973 Caldecott Honor Book •

I really love the drawings in this book. I wish there was a little more background information but there is a map in the back of the 4 Native tribes from present-day New Mexico and Arizona from which the drawings are derived. The poetry is accessible and fun to read, but the real star is the illustrations.

Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this book referred to by other art teachers who use it at the start of clay units. It's a bit too young for my students, and a bit dated overall (published 1972) but I did find a lovely quote:

"Indians who find
this pottery today
say that everything has its own
spirit -
even a broken pot.

They say
the clay
remembers
the hands that made it."

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My search for children’s books has led me to Byrd Baylor. Her books have received numerous awards. This book “When Clay Sings” brought tears to my eyes. Her words are poignant and captivating. She has something meaningful to say to parents and children alike. Byrd, it would be an honor to meet you. I’m head over heels about your work!

[Thomas Helean · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the illustrations in this book were very impressive and sort of abstract (illustrations used were all derived from the old American Southwest). I felt like there was a complete lack of story and the book was just describing picture by picture. I am not quite sure how this book won a Caldecott award and sadly failed to take any sort of story away from it.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poem that imagines how broken pieces of clay pottery may have been used by prehistoric southwest Indian tribes. It is accompanied by illustrations that reimagine the designs on the this pottery from what remains of it. I really liked the idea of this poem and the illustrations are great. Though, it might be a little abstract for most kids.

[Mykenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this picture book wasn't necessarily a story i really liked it. I think it would be great to use when kids are learning about ancient civilizations and i really enjoyed the art because i felt it was accurate and well done.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long poem imagining the inspiration and use of pottery produced by the prehistoric tribes of the Southwest. I plan to use this one for early Arizona history lessons along with some more informational texts regarding the cultures and their pottery styles.