Author/Illustrator: Marty Kreipe de Montano and Tom CoffinLauren's Ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Coyote in Love with a Star is about a coyote who left his home on the Potawatomi reservation in Kansas and moved to New York City to find a job at the World Trade Center. He was homesick so he went to the top of the building and saw a beautiful star. The star and him danced together while the star lifted him into space. When he fell back to earth, he created a huge hole which turned into a reservoir. Currently, coyotes howl around the reservoir to yell at the star for killing their grandfather.
This story was created with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in order to celebrate the Native American culture. This folktale talks about the hardships of someone leaving behind their home. I love how they incorporated different aspects of both communities to show how strange New York seemed to this person. The photos were used to compliment the text, but the focus was the story. The story was a bit strange, but it would be a great book for a child with an incredible imagination to read. The folktale included paragraphs on each page. Therefore, the reader would have to be advanced. The cultural aspect of this book was very impressive. I also liked the use of a coyote as the main character. I feel like this helped get rid of the barriers between races. Overall, I think that this would be a good book to read to children or have them read, in order to, open up the conversation about different cultures.
Publisher:Abbeville Press Publishers
Publication date: 1998
ISBN: 0-7892-0162-3
Wow, this is so different because it is obviously a modern tale but it is using the frame of a traditional tale, which by definition is supposed to be old and passed down for generations. Does it feel contrived because of that?
ReplyDeletei remember reading this book with you. this book is so out there and different from what I'm used to reading. I love how the twin towers are incorporated in the story even though when the book was first written the author had no idea how big of a deal that would be.
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