Customer Reviews (12)

Giving thanks......
The title speaks for itself. A beautiful native american for a child. Great read. Would certainly order again from Amazon.com.

Giving Thanks
Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book)
This is a beautiful and inspiring way to help children become more aware of our interconnectedness with the elements of nature. It is a lesson in appreciation andawareness of the environment.
The illustrations are moving, if not as childlike as those often found in books for young children.

"Again again"
My 29 month old loves this book.We read it over and over.What I love most about the construction of the book is that is has a sewn binding--no dangerous staples!He loves the art work and in one day has memorized most of the text.It's simple, to the point, and thorough.A perfect book for any child.NOW he wants to do the "Mother Earth" puzzle.Better start emailing someone???

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message
A wonderful way to share thankfulness at your Thankgiving table. We read it in class before Thanksgiving and again as grace at our family celebration. It is an affirmation of what our family treasures: the earth, the animals, the rain, and the sunshine. Thank you, Chief Jake Swamp, for making this available to children and adults!

Meaningful
Charming illustrations and meaningful text intrigued my 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter.We read the book over and over.Teaching children to be thankful for all of creation is our responsibility and this little book is a lovely way to get the message across to young...and old...alike.
M. Kate ... Read more

Amazon.com
Storytelling is an ancient art, yet it is as poignant today as it was a millennium ago. North American native storytelling in particular offers numerous legends that echo contemporary feminine struggles and desires. This relationship was not lost on Susan Hazen-Hammond, who gathered this expertly retold collection of brief stories that include magical sages, feminine healers, murdering mothers, and reluctant women warriors.

At the end of each chapter, the author offers exercises and meditations that help women relate these mythical stories to everyday life. For example, following a selection of warrior stories, Hazen-Hammond encourages women to imagine themselves as warriors. She then examines how the warrior metaphors and archetypes lend themselves to the experiences of the modern workplace. In another section, "The Quilt of Men's Eyes" (named after a Seneca tale), Hazen-Hammond explores the age-old story of women stifling their creative longings to appease the men of the tribe or because of male fear of feminine power. A generous section in the back titled "For Further Reading" and a thorough index make this a useful reference book as well as an intriguing read. --Gail HudsonBook Description
Ancient storytelling meets modern psychology--in themost unique and inspiring book for women sinceWomen Who Run with the Wolves.

In the Americas, the oral tradition has created one of the oldestsurviving bodies of literature on earth. Native American storytelling, in particular, stands out for its distinctive honoring of womanly power and the female forces of the universe.

Gathered here are traditional versions of stories and songs that best portray this strength and vitality. Illuminating the scope of human behavior--from treacherous mates and medicine men to magical sages and murderous mothers--these tales offer universal truths. And for readers who wish to explore the transformative healing gifts of these stories in a more personal way, each is accompanied by thought- provoking exercises and meditations. Also included are briefintroductions to provide historical and cultural context.

Entertaining, educational, and inspirational, this collection of timeless wisdom will shed light on the lives of readers for generations to come.

*For readers of the bestselling Women Who Run with the Wolves and the Starhawk books
*Inventive combination of ancient wisdom and modern self-help
*Includes stories from many Native American traditions, covering a cross-section of tribes and regions across the country
*From the author of Timelines of Native American History
*Includes practical exercises and inspiring meditations
*Each story includes an introduction (establishing its historical andcultural context) and a special icon (for tribes and regions) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book - but what are the sources?
I had been looking for a book like this for some time and was so pleased to finally find a compilation of native stories about women's power.Unfortunately, this book does not identify the origin or source of the stories (other than naming a tribe).With so many questionable nu-age "native" books out there, it is important to know the authenticity of these stories.It would help to know where the author gathered the various stories -- whether she interviewed elders, researched older documents, or some other method. ... Read more

Book Description
Einhorn, a rhetorical scholar, explores the rich history of the Native American oral tradition, focusing on stories, orations, prayers, and songs. Because American Indians existed without written language for many generations, their culture was strongly dependent on an oral tradition for continuity and preservation. Not surprisingly, they spent many hours perfecting the art of oral communication and learning methods for committing their messages to memory. Einhorn thoroughly examines the important aspects of this unique oral tradition from a rhetorical perspective, covering individual speakers, nations, and time periods. In the first half of the book, the author examines how the Native American oral tradition has affected their cultural assumptions, principles, values, beliefs, and experiences. These chapters focus primarily on characteristics of the Native American oral tradition that transcend individual nations. The second half of the book includes translated transcripts of representative speeches, stories, prayers, and songs. In accessible and compelling prose, Einhorn discusses the sanctity of the spoken word to Native Americans, concluding that their oral tradition helps to account for the survival of their people and their culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Exquisite
Any project Tamarack is involved in is high quality.And this one is.Simply exquisite.Covers areas not covered anywhere else in Anthropology.This is beyond anthropology, this is putting the heart of a culture on paper, almost, in a beautiful way. ... Read more

Book Description
Ghost Walk explores the realm of the supernatural as it compliments and shadows everyday life. These are 'ghost stories' in a non-traditional sense--tales of the spirit of Native America. Here are six original narratives sensitively illustrated by local artist and musician Sid Hausman to create an atmosphere of fascination and intrigue. Ghost Walk presents an inspired look at Native American life and legend. ... Read more

Book Description
The myths and legends in this book have been selected both for their excellence as stories and because they illustrate the distinctive nature of Native American storytelling.

• A collection of Native American myths and legends.
  
• Selected for their excellence as stories, and because they illustrate the distinctive nature of Native American storytelling.
  
• Drawn from the oral traditions of all major areas of aboriginal North America.
  
• Reveals the highly practical functions of myths and legends in Native American societies.
  
• Illustrates American Indians’ profound engagement with their natural environment.
  
• Edited by an outstanding interpreter of Native American oral stories.

Customer Reviews (1)

Do stories reflect values or shape them?
Native American Storytelling - A Reader of Myths and Legends - edited Karl Kroeder starts out with the interesting, and for me new, idea that stories shape our ideas, cultures and way of life.Instead of stories just being there to support old ideas, morals and explain how things came about Native American stories may have been used to test out new ideas.Instead of stories changing over the centuries, reflecting changes within the norms of society it may be that stories, for whatever reason, were used to change society, to explore taboos and question values.
Most of the stories were new to me.Many deal with sex and adult themes so not a book for kids.
Very serious work and a must for any library.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful and informative
Some of the best pictures I've ever seen, layed out beautifully.The writing is also very well-done and easy to read in addition to be informative.Highly recommended! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wonderful book!
I had been searching for a book of Native American star lore, and hit the jackpot with this book: Stars of the First People by Dorcas S. Miller.

This book covers some Greek Mythology and whereabouts of the common constellations so that the reader has a basis to start with, and can find the star patterns mentioned in the book.
The book is then broken into sections of North America by going over the tribes that lived in each place. It covers not only that tribes star lore, but goes into detail about how each tribe lived, such as food/shelter/migrating habits, so that the reader can easier understand how certain elements follow into the star lore.

With over 300 pages of detailed information this is a wonderful book and I am happy to own it!

More hopeful than the Greeks: Native American star myths
Dorcas Miller's book is a gateway into our North American sky. I have already given my first copy to a scout leader. Her organization is superb: sky-watchers can pick a star or constellation and use the reference guide to access all its stories; ethnographers can follow the chapter organization by region and tribe. I will annotate her lists as I add other sources and tales.

Miller starts with the conventional Greek constellations that still map our sky for professional astronomers, providing myth summaries and seasonal sky maps. Her stick figures of these constellations are a delight and I copy their details onto the daily sky charts from the internet.

Both the Greeks and our First Peoples filled their skies with peoples and animals. Only a few identities, such as bear and dog, straddle both hemispheres. Greek heroes and heroines may be banished forever to the sky by the action of the gods as punishment, or placed by a friendly god to protect them from the angered one. Animals and humans are often antagonists. I can't think of a creation myth. The dead didn't go there.

Our First Peoples connection with the sky seems ongoing and personal- get lost and you may wander into it. Die and you may walk up the Milky Way, past guides and obstacles. Suffer and you may find an opening to the sky or a rescuer who will take you into it; you may be homesick, come and go, but finally choose the sky. If you navigate by the stars, why not? It may be a refuge. The myths feel contemporary, the characters often ordinary, and creation feels recent. The animals may be small and hungry, brave or lazy.

Miller provides the myth texts as she finds them, supplementing with discussion and drawings- maps of their known or probable stars and historic diagrams such as rock art that may be relevant. The bibliography is broad. This book will be a good anchor for collecting other North American books coming into print or reprint.`

a well-rounded presentation of North American star lore
Curious about the stories that different Native American peoples told about the stars? Dorcas Miller's "Stars of the First People" will go a long way towards satisfying your curiosity. Focusing on the peoples of North America, she has pulled together a robust collection of tales and star lore and grouped them by region. Plentiful sketches, star maps, and charts accompany the text to provide a visual reinforcement of the material contained in the stories.

In addition to the star lore, Dorcas has also included a decent amount of background information on the individual tribes to help the reader better understand the context of the star stories. In the back of the book you'll find an extensive set of notes and bibliographic references for those interested in further reading on this subject.

Don Childrey, author of "STAR TRAILS - Navajo"

Well-written book with information hard to find elsewhere
This is one of the most complete set of Native American star legends that I have seen. The author first reviews the standard Greek and Roman myths that have given us our constellation names. For each region of NorthAmerica, he devotes an entire chapter to star legends from indigenouspeople that live in that region. At the end of each chapter he listsstandard constellations and groups and the Native American legends behindeach, and at the end of the book he provides an overall listing. Someinteresting similarities come out - for example, the Big Dipper is a bearin standard Greek and Roman and in many Native American myths, and Siriusis a dog or wolf star in standard and in Native American myths. The storiesare well written and can be used anywhere where storytelling is called for- for example, to groups of children. For a good summary of Native Americanmyths, look to this volume. I just wish there was a similar compendium ofALL the world's indigenous star myths. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

terrific assortment
Gifford offers us a unique assortment of myths and legends representative of a widely diverse set of cultural traditions spanning from "south of the Border" to the virtual igloos of Tierra del Fuego. A wide array of peoples, ranging from the highly stratified and ritualized (e.g., the Aztec [who, BTW, called themselves the Mexica] and the Maya) to neolithic forest peoples (I forget the specific tribes, but comparable to, say, the Sharanahua or the Yanomamo or the Jivaro). The stories are intriguing; a spectrum of unfamiliar animals are anthropomorphized to yield a truly unique set of deities; and, to say the least, the hand-painted color illustrations are utterly breathtaking and should richly contribute to younger readers' enjoyment of the stories.

By the way, if you thought you recognized the cover image (supra) of the eagle and the serpent atop the cactus, you thought correctly. That archetype--which announced to the Mexica that they had found their homeland, the high-altitude swamp in which they were to erect their capital--forms the seal of the green, white, and red flag of Los Estados Unidos de Mexico. ... Read more

Book Description
Whether they involved goods, words, or ideas, acts of giving and trading were fundamental in early Indian-white contacts. But how did these transactions function across the two cultures, and what did they mean to each? In this book, David Murray explores a range of early exchanges between Europeans and Indians, showing how they operated within a set of interlocking economies-linguistic, religious, as well as material.

Murray begins by examining the crucial role of gift-giving. Like the double function of the key, which both locks and unlocks, the gift-with its simultaneous action of offering something and demanding a return-expressed the paradoxical nature of early Indian-white encounters. Because the power to give was associated with ideas of sovereignty, both sides often preferred to represent exchanges as gift-giving rather than trading or selling.

To illustrate the complexities of these cross-cultural transactions, the author looks closely at the work of linguist, trader, and missionary Roger Williams, whose A Key into the Language of America at once serves the purposes of translation, conversion, and trade. Murray also examines the changing meaning and representation of wampum, the quintessential medium of exchange in the early colonial period, as well as the multiple processes of conversion taking place as Christian ideas were incorporated into Indian cultures.

According to the author, only by recognizing the ways in which objects and ideas circulated and took on value in interrelated economies can we understand the contested "middle ground" between Europeans and Indians of the colonial Northeast. ... Read more

Book Description
Young Brave Bear must figure out a way to outwit four ghosts who are haunting him in this humorous Sioux legend.

The Legends of the World opens readers' minds to the diverse cultures of Native America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and the Americas through enchanting tales passed down through countless generations.Each book in the series features geographical, historical, and cultural information.Illustrated in full color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wondeful illustrations of the ghosts in this first rate Lakota legend
I have liked Charles Reasoner's artwork for these Native American Lore & Legends series books, but "Brave Bear and the Ghosts: A Sioux Legend" is my new favorite because of the way he does the ghosts.You get a hint of it from the cover painting with Brave Bear on the left and a ghost riding a ghost horse on the right.But the ghosts are, for the most part, more purple than what you see.Reasoner's figures usually do not have mouths and for eyes just the little slits we would all associate with Snoopy in the "Peanuts" cartoons.This time, there are mouths for these figures, but mouths that suggest the space between the cranium and the jaw on a skull.The eyes are still little slits, but they have a dark circle around them.The shades of purple are also really cool.Too bad they are the villains in the story, retold by Gloria Dominic.

It is always winter in the land of ghosts and as they sit around talking about how much fun it is to scare people one of them tells of Brave Bear, a warrior and hunter who laughs in the face of death.The ghosts make a bet that the first ghost to scare Brave Bear will win the ghost horses of the others.But when they go after Brave Bear to win their bet he keeps making bets with them and winning their horses.This is fairly predictable, since Brave Bear is the hero of the tale.But what is great are all the clever ways that Brave Bear bests each of the ghosts.They are as cool as the illustrations of the ghosts, which is why this Sioux story has become one of my favorites.Plus, there is a punch line at the end that will appeal to young readers as well.

The back of the book talks about the Sioux, which is problematic because ever since "Dances With Wolves" most of us have learned that these people called themselves the Lakota (or Dakota or Nakota), and that the word "Sioux" is the Ojibwa word for "snake."That is covered in the back of this book, but then the book continues to use the derogatory term, but without justifying why (if kids can learn to call a brontosaurus an apatosaurus, they can learn to call the Sioux the Lakota).Is the point here that racism is okay if one Native American tribe hangs a derogatory name on another as opposed to having it done by the settlers? This book is going to be the first opportunity for many young readers to find out about this particular society, so this really should have been a Lakota (or Dakota or Nakota) legend.

The back of the book covers the homeland, food and clothing, and where the people called in this book the Sioux live today. Young readers will also find a Glossary of terms from "akicita" to "travios," and a list of important dates that begins with the 1700s when these people became expert horsemen and 1979 when the U.S. Supreme Court awarded them $105 million for the taking of their lands, which settled a legal action begun in 1923.This section is illustrated with historic photographs of these people and contemporary shots of artifacts. If the explanation for the name of the Sioux was not included here I would round down, but hopefully teachers and parents can rectify the decision made here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

If you own the deck, you need to own this book!
This is the companion book to the Native American Tarot Deck. Though the small booklet included with the deck will get you started, this book will give you even more details and interpretations, not only of the cards but also of Native American teachings and beliefs. It also includes handy reference pages for comparing the major arcana symbolism across many beliefs & cultures and various card spreads to use for meditation.

An absolute MUST for use with the Native American Tarot Deck
Anyone who enjoyed the Native American Tarot Deck must have this book.It completely explains both the meaning and the history behind each card, plus it provides insightful meditation points to strengthen your knowledge ofthis powerful, unusual deck. ... Read more

Book Description
This collection of essays and stories, many of which first appeared in Parabola magazine, range from descriptions of traditional Native American lifestyles and sacred rituals to startlingly apt prophesies of the coming of Europeans and descriptions of the struggle to live the traditional Native teachings in a world that has gone in a very different direction. Some of the topics explored include kachinas, the irreverent Hopi clowns; Navajo healing sand paintings; a dramatic firsthand description of a spirit-quest; the purpose of art in Native cultures; and the role of masks in ritual and in self-knowledge. The stories included are retellings of traditional tales; the text is further enhanced by a series of powerful illustrations by contemporary Native American artists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ramadan
i didn't like this book that much. i guess i didnt become part of it eough but if you wanna know about sacred dimensions in native american life you can read black elk speaks or something, it's better, like reading soul on ice instead of some dude writing about eldridge cleaver, it's not that complicated there's little need for a metaphor ... Read more

Book Description
The fight to have the American legal system recognize Native American religions has taken many forms, from the confrontation over Indian usage of eagle feathers and the ingestion of peyote in religious ceremonies to the right of students to have traditional Indian hair styles while attending public schools. It was thought that the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act of 1978 would alleviate these problems, but Supreme Court interpretations have essentially eviscerated this law. In addition to these issues, the articles in this collection address the ongoing conflict between Native Americans and museums and states over who has rights to the skeletal remains and burial objects that have been illegally recovered throughout the U.S. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Intresting and Factual
I enjoyed reading this book and it opened my eyes however dull moments appeared occasionally. i would reccomend this book to others intrested in creation and alternate explanations for the world around us. ... Read more

Book Description
These are Joe Hayes' personal selections from the legends of everyone's favorite prankster. Coyote's foolish antics have long been a source of entertainment as we watch him outsmart himself time and time again. These stories also teach us many of the origins of Native American myth and spirituality. Ten tales sure to delight readers of all ages. With exquisite pencil Illustrations by Lucy Jelinek, this collection continues the Mariposa tradition of producing fine books. ... Read more