Tuesday, August 5, 2014

34. Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection


Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection
By Assorted
Fulcrum Books, 2010

Genre
Fables

Awards
  • Aesop Prize Winner (2011)

Review
Artistic and imaginative, these Native American tales all feature various tricksters like the raven, the rabbit, and the coyote at their various antics.  A mix of artists and storytellers adds plenty of variety to the tellings.  Some of the stories seem very odd, like the rendition of how the vulture became bald, while others are less about the trickster doing the tricking on purpose and more about stumbling into messing things up for everyone, like when the coyote spilled his pebbles in the sky.  Regardless of the specific fable being read, doubtless readers will love these stories and learn about some possible reasons as to why things are the way they are.

Opinion
Most of these fables were wonderful and brand new to me.  The first story of how the stars were created was probably my favorite, but sometime near the end I felt like the book went a little down-hill.  I became bored and I was actually slightly put-off by the story of the vulture's head becoming bald.  The story didn't explicitly state how this happened, but the pictures suggested his head was stuck up a man's rear-end for a time.  I did enjoy the majority of these stories though and the hodgepodge of art styles was entertaining to examine.

Ideas
This is a great introductory book to Native American fables and could be displayed for Native American Heritage Month.  Also great for a general display that shows the fables and folklore of different cultures.

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