Crow Chief

by Paul Goble

Crow Chief always warns the buffalo that hunters are coming, until Falling Star, a savior, comes to camp, tricks Crow Chief, and teaches him that all must share and live like relatives together

Genres: Native American, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Paul Goble was an award winning author and illustrator of children's books. He has won both the Caldecott Medal and The Library of Congress' Children's Book of the Year Award.
He gave his entire collection of original illustrations to the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, South Dakota.
Goble, a native of England, studied at the Central School of Art in London. He became a United States citizen in 1984. Goble's life-long fascination with Native Americans of the plains began during his childhood when he became intrigued with their spirituality and culture.
His illustrations accurately depict Native American clothing, customs and surroundings in brilliant color and detail. Goble researched ancient stories and retold them for his young audiences in a manner sympathetic to Native American ways.
Goble lived with his wife in Rapid City, SD.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Crow Chief would be a great story to read for grades pre-k-2nd. I selected the Crow Chief because of the colorful cover and interesting symbolism. The book's theme is that we are all meant to share the earth and respect one another. Crow Chief is a text-to-self when studying how the Native Americans relied on buffalo to live. The story would be a great introduction to why people used to hunt for food. A lesson one could do is have students collect an object to simulate food and have one student stockpile the object to show the importance of collaboration and sharing. The lesson will also teach the importance of allowing nature to replace items so that a species does not go extinct. The story could cover the topic of Native Americans and or the Westward Expansion. The artwork would be great for older grades to explore the Westward Expansion and open up discussions on what happened with the push of the Native Americans. I enjoyed Crow Chief because it teaches the reader a few life lessons, why we need to share, the importance of preservation, how what we do impacts others and the environment, and how Native Americans lived off the lands.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations were simply
beautiful. Superb.

The storyline was very good.

A very good picture book for
children.

I also think it would
be a good book for adults who
are interested in beautiful art
or who are interested in the
subject of Indian mythology.

[Caitlin O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

All time fave bedtime story growing up, usually fall asleep half way thru 🤣

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the outset, this is a tale of how the Chief of the Crow Nation (the actual birds, not the Crow tribe) kept the Plains people hungry by scaring the buffalo away whenever they tried to hunt. It is also a story about Falling Star, a legendary Savior figure who appears to help the people conquer the Crow Chief and hunt successfully.

This book reads like an Aesop fable, depicting how crows, who were initially pure white birds, got their black feathers. I thought it was clever and fun. As always, the artwork is beautiful and richly detailed, bringing the story to life.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plains Indians