Coyote and the Fire Stick: A Pacific Northwest Indian Tale - Hardcover

WILL HILLENBRAND has written and illustrated many award-winning picture books, including The House That Drac Built by Judy Sierra and his own Down by the Station. He lives in Terrace Park, Ohio.

Grade 2-6?In Native traditions of the Pacific Northwest, as elsewhere, Coyote's tricky nature makes him both a helpful hero and a boastful egotist. In this tale, the People are cold and hungry, so they ask Coyote to steal Fire, burning on a snowy mountaintop guarded by three evil spirits. Stealing a plan from his sisters, he executes it with determination and verve. When the stolen firebrand is swallowed by a tree, the evil spirits are sure no one will be able to retrieve it. But Coyote rubs dry sticks of wood together "until sparks came." Readers leave him basking in praise. It is the characterization of Coyote, understated but unmistakable, that raises this tale above the common pourquoi. Sparks in this book fly from the pictures as well as from the words. Hillenbrand's proto-Oregonians actually look like themselves, and not like Hollywood Indians. Their artifacts, clothes, and homes are unassumingly authentic (not a totem pole in sight). The layout is often dramatic, and the evil spirits are green and clunky, with red eyes and troll faces. Best of all is Coyote, a foxy red cousin of Wile E. himself, whose foolish vanity is conveyed by his swollen chest, but whose exuberant joy in life radiates from his splayed limbs and perky tail. Few readers will fail to recognize a bit of this animal in themselves.?Patricia (Dooley) Lothrop Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.