Way Up and Over Everything

Way Up and Over Everything

Written by: Alice McGill
Illustrated by: Jude Daly

"This African American “flying” tale details the miraculous escape of five African slaves from Ol’ Man Deboreaux’s plantation. After a day of toil in the cotton fields, Jane, a 16-year-old slave, notices that the newly arrived Africans are nowhere to be found. When the vicious overseer and the plantation owner set out to find the fugitives, Jane bravely follows and witnesses the Africans taking to the air and soaring over the rolling countryside toward their home across the sea. Jane is warned not to repeat what she has seen, but repeat it she does, as this tale of transcendence and freedom is handed down from generation to generation, until it is finally related to readers by the story’s narrator, Jane’s great-great-granddaughter. Daly’s delicate and elongated figures, small in scale against the vast watercolor landscapes of the Georgia countryside, present a bird’s-eye view of the story and suggest the enormity of such an escape. McGill finishes with a note about the origins and variations of African American flying stories."

Booklist Review

Online Resources:
http://www.theteller.com/index.html

Raven: A Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest

Raven: A Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest

Written and Illustrated by: Gerald McDermott

"All the world is in darkness at the beginning of this traditional tale from the Indian cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Raven feels sorry for the people living in the gloomy cold, so he flies to the house of the Sky Chief in search of light and warmth. To get inside, Raven pulls a shape-shifting trick that allows him to be born to the god's daughter. As a spoiled and comic infant, Raven demands and gets the shiny ball that the gods have hidden away. The art and text capture the spirit of the Native American trickster hero; benevolent, clever, magical, unscrupulous, and ultimately triumphant, Raven acts out human virtues and foibles on a cosmic scale. The book invites comparisons with other trickster heroes like Africa's Anansi and the Native American Coyote, as well as with stories of fire bringers like Prometheus. The physical environment, oral literature, and traditional life of the Pacific Coast Indians come alive in this amusing and well-conceived picture book."

School Library Journal Review

Web Resources:
http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/raven-the-trickster-puppet-tales-lesson-plan/

Coyote: A Trickster Tale From the American Southwest

Coyote: A Trickster Tale From the American Southwest

Written and Illustrated by: Gerald McDermott

"Coyote is a big, bumbling, interfering copycat; he's rude, boastful, vain, and always in trouble. The storytelling is simple, with the casual, direct tone and satisfying repetition of the oral tradition ("He was going along, following his nose. He had a nose for trouble . . . Coyote was always in trouble"). The art combines traditional geometric design with the jagged figure of Coyote, all exaggerated pointed shapes in brilliant blue with a lolling red tongue. He cavorts against a background of warm rust-brown desert; he tries to fly with the beautifully synchronized black-and-purple crows who circle the canyon and soar in the sky. Of course, he falls ignominiously into the dust. And to this day, "He has a nose for trouble. He always finds it." This is great for storytelling: kids will love the slapstick action and the bright, comic art about this gawky fool. As McDermott points out in the lively source note, Coyote is very foolish--and very human."

Booklist Review

The Star People: A Lakota Story

The Star People: A Lakota Story

Written and Illustrated by: S.D. Nelson

"While exploring the land around their village, two young Plains Indians--Sister Girl and her little brother, Young Wolf--stray too far. After narrowly escaping a roaring prairie fire, the siblings find themselves lost and frightened in the dark, open land until the Star People, "the spirits of the Old Ones who once walked on the earth," offer comfort and guidance home. In clear, captivating language, Nelson, the creator of Gift Horse (2000) and a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, tells a stirring, original story based on Lakota legend. An extensive author's note introduces Ledger Book Art, the nineteenth-century Plains Indian style of art that influenced Nelson's acrylic paintings."

Web Resources:
http://www.bigorrin.org/sioux_kids.htm
http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/index_history.html

The First Tortilla: A Bilingual Story

The First Tortilla: A Bilingual Story

Written by: Rudolpho Anaya
Illustrated by: Amy Cordova

Elementary Grades

"The First Tortilla is a moving, bilingual story of courage and discovery. A small Mexican village is near starvation. There is no rain, and the bean and squash plants are dying. Jade, a young village girl, is told by a blue hummingbird to take a gift to the Mountain Spirit. Then it will send the needed rain. Burning lava threatens her, but Jade reaches the top of the volcano. The Mountain Spirit is pleased. It allows the ants in a nearby cave to share their corn with Jade. The corn was sweet and delicious and Jade took some back to save the village. Jade grinds the dry corn, adds water, and makes dough. She pats the masa and places it on hot stones near the fire. She has made the first tortilla. Soon the making of corn tortillas spreads throughout Mexico and beyond."

Publishers Synopsis

Online Resources:
http://www.readingtokids.org/Books/BookView.php?pag=3&bookID=00000718

Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters

Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily Characters

Written by: Patricia C. McKissack
Illustrated by: Andre Carrilho

"Like McKissack's award-winning The Dark Thirty (1992), the nine original tales in this uproarious collection draw on African American oral tradition and blend history and legend with sly humor, creepy horror, villainous characters, and wild farce. McKissack based the stories on those she heard as a child while sitting on her grandparents' porch; now she is passing them on to her grandchildren. Without using dialect, her intimate folk idiom celebrates the storytelling among friends, neighbors, and family as much as the stories themselves."

Booklist Review