Native American Tales: The Girl Who Helped Thunder

The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales

retold by James Bruchac and Joseph Bruchac

A few years ago, the moderators added tales to the English and literature recommendations for Levels 3 and 4 at Mater Amabilis. We wanted a book of Native American tales for Level 4. While the tales themselves come from a time before 20th century history (which is the focus for Level 4), the way we communicate and form relationships with Native Americans (as mainly descendants of Europeans), is an important topic for the 20th century.

I hold James Bruchac and Joseph Bruchac in high esteem. They are masterful story-tellers who treat us all, protagonist and reader alike, with respect and kindness. 

This book is generally highly recommended by the thoughtful contributors of the Facebook group, Living Books of All Peoples, which is a treasure-trove of helpful information and resources. I cannot recommend it highly enough to all parents.

The tales in this book are from a number of different cultural groups, organized by geographic area. It's beautifully illustrated by Stefano Vitale. As usual, the Bruchacs have chosen tales to delight the reader. They are a bit short and easy to read for a Level 4 student (eighth grade), but the history in Level 4 is so difficult, it's important to mix in some easy and uplifting lessons as well.

Overall, I'm so pleased we added this book to the curriculum!

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased the book used. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

November 2022 Book Reports

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I had read this book a few years before we had kids, so it had been almost twenty years when I read it again with my book club. It seemed a little more trite to me this time around, though generally I think the main protagonist is a much more virtuous person than I would have been in her situation. (read free Kindle copy)

Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants by George W. Bush - link to my post (borrowed copy from my dad) 

A Mercy by Toni Morrison - I read this as I was deciding on an African American literature selection for senior year. This book presents the stories of a single 1680s household from the differing perspectives of the master, mistress, and slaves. It is often difficult to read, both because the text can be challenging and because the events are harsh and tragic. Few people of privilege, wealth, or power are portrayed positively. But it is beautifully written. I think a high school senior could read it, though some will struggle in understanding some of the voices. There are also some pointed criticisms of Catholics that, while I think they are valid, would need context for a teenage Catholic reader. That is all in addition, of course, to all the content considerations you might imagine: rape, violence, slavery, witchcraft, intimacy outside of marriage and with people of the same gender, etc. (library copy)

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - This was my second time through this audiobook and I loved it just as much as the first time. I picked up on many more of the jokes this time through because I had recently listened to Jerome K. Jerome's original travelogue, Three Men in a Boat. Back in 2020, I wrote:

This may be my favorite audiobook of all time. I enjoyed every single minute of it, invented chores so I could listen to it, and was both delighted with the ending and sorry it was over. It's a quirky tale of time-travel, Victorian England, the Blitz, and romance, "to say nothing of the dog" (and cat). (purchased from Audible during a sale)

 I'm sure the book is good, but the audiobook is an absolute delight.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - I've never been much of a mystery reader; I can never guess the murderer! But so many people rave about Agatha Christie, I thought I'd give a few of her books a try. I enjoyed this one, though of course I didn't figure out the solution until it was revealed. (library copy)

Leona by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino - I was looking on PaperBackSwap for books by this author because I love her book My Heart Lies South. This little out of print book about a brave but often over-looked woman in Mexico's history was available. It's written at about a middle school level, though the romance means it might be more interesting to older children. I enjoyed it, but I don't know that you have to seek it out. (received from another member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - link to my post (library copy)

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis - I read this with my book club. The story tells of the perseverance of two women left alone in the Alaskan wilderness, the revival of their skills to survive, and the flourishing of their friendship. It's also a story of the healing of family relationships. I added this book to my Geography of the Americas shelf in case any high schoolers want to select it as a free-read (Level 5 or Level 6). (purchased used)

The Yellow Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang - I have read fairy tales aloud to all my kids regularly since the very beginning of our homeschooling journey, but we don't read one every day, or even every week, so it can take a long time to get through a book. Fairy tales seem to be enjoying something of a moment, especially in the homeschooling crowd, but nothing can teach you about the wonderful and the weird as much as reading through a collection from beginning to end. I picked something different to read aloud after this one, but I'm considering returning to the Blue Fairy Book after that because my younger kids don't remember it. (purchased used)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

Tale of the Noongahburrahs: Australian Legendary Tales

Australian Legendary Tales 

Folk-lore of the Noongahburrahs, as told to the Picaninnies, collected by Mrs. K. Langloh Parker, with an introduction by Andrew Lang

This book is one of the first collections of tales of First Australians after colonization by Europeans. The stories are generally short, but rich in story and vocabulary. There's an indispensable glossary in the back. The excellent illustrations are those of an Aboriginal artist.

A few years ago, the moderators of Mater Amabilis added folk tales to the Level 3 syllabus, where they had been conspicuously absent. We chose this book for one of the Level 3 Year 2 books (seventh grade). They are probably below reading level for most seventh graders, but the content of the stories is often violent and graphic (though such things are not unusual for real fairy and folk tales), so they are a good fit for that age. (It will also line up with most students as they near the European discovery of Australia in A Book of Discovery.)

Though these tales seem different from ones from European countries and our own American cultural heritage, it is interesting to discover similarities. It's one of the aspects of our inclusion of tales from many cultures I appreciate.

I received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this book directly from the publisher. Links in this post are not affiliate links.

September and October 2016 Book Reports

My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live by Maria Morera Johnson does not have my favorite title. It's a casual-style book written by a familiar Catholic mom blogger (though not one I have read online) that show show specific women saints have inspired her. This book would be a nice one for someone unfamiliar with the idea of saints in Catholic theology as she gives basic background information on all the saints. While I appreciated some of the connections she makes between her life and those of the saints, there are many saint books I like more. One of the unusual aspects of this book is how she often incorporates stories of women who are not (yet) saints, many of whom were new to me like Mother Mary Lange. There were also a few inspiring women who are not Catholic at all. (library copy)

The Drawing Lesson by Mark Crilley - link to my post (review copy from Blogging for Books)

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson is the first in a series of books that imaginatively retell the stories of Peter Pan. Those who know the original stories will find many pleasing tips to the originals, but there's plenty to entertain those who are unfamiliar as well. Other than a few unnecessary romantic insinuations between two rather young teenagers (or tweens?), we all found this highly entertaining. I've heard online the later books are a bit darker and maybe not appropriate for younger children so I'm pre-reading them before listening just in case. (audiobook from the library)

American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osborne includes tales of Davy Crocket, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Johnny Appleseed, Stormalong, Mose, Febold Feboldson, Pecos Bill, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan. We listened to these tales on audiobook and, though the children enjoyed them well enough, Kansas Dad and I were not impressed. I wish we'd gotten the RC History recommended Jim Weiss CD instead. I think it would have been more enjoyable. Alternatively, we could have read from some of the Steven Kellogg tall tale books, many of which we've collected over the years and always enjoyed. (audiobook from the library)

Riding the Pony Express by Clyde Robert Bulla was one I had on the shelf and decided to read it aloud to the kids when our library didn't have either They're Off or We Were There with the Pony Express, both recommended by RC History. We have and love many of Bulla's books but I thought this one was disappointing. The young Native American in the story is portrayed rather poorly, even given the time the book was written. The library has lots of books on the Pony Express and I would have picked one of them instead if I had read this one myself before reading it aloud. (purchased copy)

The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale is the story of the Peterkin family, one which manages to get themselves into scrape after scrape through a lack of commonsense. My children loved listening to these stories, but the inanity lasted longer than my personal preference. (library copy)

Emma by Jane Austen shows a snobish willful girl grow into a slightly wiser more conciliatory young woman. The inanities of life among the landed gentry were never so obvious. The writing, of course, is magnificent. (library book sale purchase)

The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Sanna Annukka - link to my post. (review copy from Blogging for Books)

Ivanhoe: A Romance by Sir Walter Scott - link to my post. (requested from another member at PaperBackSwap.com)


Books in Progress (and date started)

• Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. 2 (sixth edition) (August 2014)
• Transforming Your Life through the Eucharist by John A. Kane (June 2016)
• My Several Worlds by Pearl S. Buck (August 2016)
• We Worship: A Guide to the Catholic Mass by Father Oscar Lukefahr, CM, with our adult faith formation class (September 2016)
• The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton with my book club (September 2016)
• Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (October 2016)
• Between the Forest and the Hills by Ann Lawrence (October 2016, with the children)
• Simon Brute and the Western Adventure by Elizabeth Bartelme (September 2016) 
• The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis (October 2016)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, with First Son (October 2016)

The italic print: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order).

Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks - another affiliate link.

Any links to RC History and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Other links (like those to Bethlehem Books) are not affiliate links.

These reports are my honest opinions.

Picture Book Comparisons: Bloody Cats and Goblin Rats

This year our focus while Reading Around the World in Picture Books is Asia. We've recently started exploring Japan. We read The Boy Who Drew Cats retold by Anushka Ravishankar, illustrated by Christine Kastl (Japan), the tale of a young boy who only draws cats, the most remarkable cats. One night, his drawings come to life and rid a temple of a horrible goblin. I love the look of the ink on rice paper in the illustrations, though the huge rat goblin is a bit disturbing (for me, not the kids). I also loved how the priest sends the boy away from the first temple. Exasperated by the boy's incessant drawing, not least on beautiful screens, he remains calm and kind. The boy asks for any final advice.

The priest did not know what to say. Suddenly the words came out of his mouth, straight from his heart, without passing through his mind: 'Stay away from large places. Sleep only in small spaces.'

Akiro was puzzled. It was strange sort of advice for a priest to give his student when he was sending him away into the world. But a teacher's advice has to be taken with gratitude, even when it sounds odd and meaningless. So Akiro bowed low and left.

What a good attitude Akiro has!

Our library has a few different versions of this folktale so I also checked out The Boy who Drew Cats adapted by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Aki Sogabe. These illustrations are also well-done, though I prefer those in the first. I hesitate to write anything against Margaret Hodges's story-telling skills, but the priest's advice in this tale is "Avoid large places at night; keep to small," which seems less lyrical to me though it obviously means the same thing.

Very young children might be a little disturbed by the drawings of cats spotted with red (blood from the goblin).  The illustration of the goblin rat in the second book includes only the tail, but the text was a little more frightening than the book above. Not that Second Daughter or Second Son (ages seven and five) found either bothersome. Dead goblin rats and bloody cat drawings are apparently run-of-the-mill around here.

My Favorite Picture Books: It Could Always Be Worse

It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale by Margot Zemach

This book is a Yiddish folk tale retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach. A poor man, overwhelmed by the noise and disagreements of his mother, wife, and six children in a one-room house, begs his rabbi for advice.

The rabbi suggests he bring the chickens inside. Over the course of the book, the poor man returns again and again to the rabbi as the cacophony and mayhem increases with each addition to his household.

All my children laugh as chickens, goats, and other animals are brought into the house. The illustrations show the family in shambles until finally order and peace are restored by the wisdom of the rabbi.

This book is perfect for families with young children and large families in general. If you have a few chickens or goats in your yard, it's even better!

A Season of Beauty of Faith: The Long Christmas

The Long Christmas by Ruth Sawyer

I picked this book up from a bookseller at a conference last year because I love the artwork of Valenti Angelo. We read from an exquisitely decorated The Book of Psalms each day. I remembered Ruth Sawyer's The Year of the Christmas Dragon, so I thought I'd be safe with the text. As a bonus, it smelled deliciously of old book.

A few pages into the Introduction, I knew I had found a treasure.

Never before within our memory has it seemed so important to keep the Long Christmas; to begin early enough and hold to the festival long enough to feel the deep, moving significance of it. For Christmas is a state of mind quite as much as a festival; and who can establish and maintain a state of mind in the rush and turmoil of a single day, or two days? Around no other time of year has been built so much of faith, of beauty. Out of no other festival have grown so many legends.

It bears repeating, "Who can establish and maintain a state of mind in the rush and turmoil of a single day, or two days?" Sawyer is advocating for a "Long Christmas," a celebration of weeks after the day itself, time to soak in the mystery and the loveliness.

Later, Ms. Sawyer quotes Anne Carroll Moore in My Roads:

We too often forget lighting up time at Christmas and lay upon the day itself too heavy a load of material substitutes for the great good gifts of beauty, song, and laughter, of genuine play and fresh adventure in two worlds.

The weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas build an anticipation that may be crushed by an "imperfect" celebration on the day itself. Let the storytelling, singing, and laughing continue throughout the season of Christmas!

Thirteen stories, gathered from various countries, are included in the book: one for Christmas and all the days through Epiphany. Before each tale is a poem or hymn. Some are old carols or hymns, but some, I think, are written by Sawyer.

The tales broach every human emotion but all are centered on the birth of Christ and the celebration of that great feast. From The Holy Lake:

Now pride and scorn are poor bedfellows. They will turn a good man into an empty-headed fool. If there is no longer need of earning daily bread, no longer need of counting the busy hours of the day that life might be wise and diligent, then the empty-headed fool becomes a man both vicious and greedy--a baser metal himself, and good for little but scrapping.

One lone woman continues to welcome the guest in Christ's name, to comfort and nourish. A strange young child comes to her humble cabin on Christmas Eve, rejected from every other village home.

And then he talked to her of his own mother, of their simple life at home, of his brothers and one sister. She saw, in what he told, her own life taking form as it had been, and felt again how good it had been, these things of living, of homely service, of preparing food, of hushing children, of making garments, of keeping a house tidy and pleasant. And while he talked, bringing the years home to her, she nodded and at last slept.

In the morning, she finds the town drowned by a lake along with all the gluttonous, greedy villagers. Though the story seems to hint the stranger was Christ himself, I find it difficult to think he would have suffered more when thinking of what would happen to the people of the town, guilty as they were. (Also, as Catholics we believe Christ would have had no siblings.) Still, a tale does not need to be theologically perfect to be thought-provoking.

My favorite story is The Crib of Bo'Bossu, in which a poor deformed carpenter desires to carve a beautiful new crib for the Christ child in the Nativity scene at the cathedral. His great gift of wood-working, his only gift, he wished to dedicate to drawing the eyes of others to Christ.

With the crib conceived, there remained only to win time for the work. He worked far into the long evenings; he worked at full of moon; he rose an hour before time for morning coffee. His own working hours for the Old One were long enough to tire; but this was work for love and he rested at it.

As the feast neared, he struggled to find time and finally found himself struggling to see in the darkness before the feast before an unfinished cradle. Miraculously, a stranger appears who magnificently completes his gift.

The penultimate story is A Candle for Saint Bridget. Unlike the other stories, all taken from traditional tales, this one is a story of the authors own. Overcome by the spirit of giving when visiting a family struggling vainly against hunger and poverty, she leaves an offering for the children from St. Bridget.

I'm looking forward to reading this book aloud to my children next Advent, in preparation for our own celebration of the Long Christmas.

My Favorite Picture Books: Bagels from Benny

Bagels from Benny by Aubrey Davis, illustrated by Dusan Petricic

I requested this book from the library and couldn't remember why by the time it was available. Perhaps it was a providential accident because it's a wonderful book!

Benny works every day in his grandfather's bakery where the most delicious bagels are made. When people thank him for his bagels, Grandfather defers, saying God should be thanked because he has made the wheat grow from the good earth.

After thanking God in a prayer, Benny wonders why he hasn't received a response and decides more drastic action is needed. He asks his grandfather to pay him each week with a bag of bagels. Slipping quietly into the synagogue, he places the bag in the Ark. At this point, many readers and children may be shocked; after all, the Ark is sacred. But God has a plan for Benny's bagels and a lesson for all of us at the end of the book about thankfulness, gratitude, the loving care of God and using His gifts to bless others.

Bagels for Benny is based on a Jewish folktale. Though it's in English, I like how the text is aligned right as Hebrew would be. The illustrations are warm and Benny's expressions, especially on the double-page spread showing weeks of delivering bagels to God, are enchanting.

Find a copy and read it with your little ones!