The Sun's Daughter

by Pat Sherman, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrations)

In a tale based on an Iroquois legend that parallels the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter, one of the Sun's daughters, Maize, disobeys her mother and is trapped by Silver, and it is up to the tiny pewee bird to save Maize and keep the people from starving.

Genres: Picture Books, Native American, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2005

Reviews

[Rosemarie]

I give the story 4 stars since it is interesting and written in a flowing manner. It makes a great story for reading aloud. But I really did not like the illustrations. They do not do justice to the story; in fact, the faces are singularly unattractive.

[CanadianReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely Iroquois Persephone tale, explaining why winter comes. Instead of Persephone, we have Maize. The world mourns until small birds are able to convince the trees to weep--i.e. the mother sun to cause snow melt. While the cover art is attractive enough, I was very disappointed with the childlike, primitive illustrations, especially the treatment of the faces of the human figures. I wish a different illustrator had been chosen.

[Anna Kohanski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic tale of creation. Focusing on the creation of the seasons and crops, including a theory of why people had to start farming. Beautifully illustrated with lots of vibrant colors.

[Stephanie Klaren]

In this fun book children are able to learn why Native American's think winter comes and corn stops growing. This would work well with middle elementary students when learning about Native Americans and season changes.