Ancient Thunder [Hardcover]

Leo Yerxa (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

A visionary and beautiful book, Ancient Thunder celebrates wild horses and the natural world in which they lived in harmony. Using an extraordinary technique, artist of Ojibwa ancestry, Leo Yerxa makes paper look like leather, so that his illustrations seem to be painted on leather shirts. Each shirt is accompanied by a rich, wild song of praise for the wild horses that came to play such an important role in the lives of the First Peoples. Years in the making, the book is truly a work of art, one that reflects Yerxa’s sense of nature and the place of native people within it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Yerxa (Last Leaf, First Snowflake to Fall), a Canadian of Ojibway ancestry, celebrates the relationship between horses and the native people of the Great Plains in a series of three-mystically themed montages. At the center of each picture is a paper fringed shirt, crafted from handmade paper and modeled on those worn by the First Peoples; the shirt serves as both backdrop and landscape for Yerxa's lean, schematic portraits of horses, usually depicted in groups at full gallop. Although there is some sense of time passing (the book begins "at the rise of the Strawberry Moon" and ends at daybreak), there is no attempt to tell a linear story. In both their content and feel, the compositions feel more akin to cave paintings (the horses especially so), and evoke a sense of wonder. The text, which conspicuously avoids the word "horse," echoes this mood with its series of short, chant-like phrases: "Born... to run/ with the first/ sparkles of/ new daylight/ Over a sea of grass/ Chasing the buffalo/ And the antelope, too/ Soaring on eagles' wings." Although each individual spread makes a strong impression, the overall visual rhythm begins to feel rather monotonous. Younger readers will likely tune out quickly, but older readers—especially aspiring artists and those interested in native cultures—may well find much to linger over. All ages. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–Dazzling artistry and a spare but poetically perceptive text combine to create a unique vision of the mystical allure of horses. Illustrations resembling traditional clothing of the Native peoples of the Great Plains are the backdrop for depicting the multicolored horses galloping across the grasslands, sometimes alone, sometimes in herds, carrying man, and chasing the buffalo. The stylized animals appear on different areas of the fringed dresses and shirts. The colors capture the beauty of the deep blue, starry, and moonlit nights and sky-blue days on the vast land. The horses freely move across the pages as if there were no boundaries. The gouache-and-watercolor spreads and full-page illustrations have a dynamic quality because the background shapes constantly change in size, angle, and detail, with feathers subtly integrated throughout. This free-verse celebration of wild horses will appeal to those who want to feast their eyes on imaginative and vibrant art.–Carol Schene, formerly at Taunton Public Schools, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Groundwood Books (August 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888997469
• ISBN-13: 978-0888997463
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,825,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous., April 12, 2007

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ancient Thunder (Hardcover)

Leo Yerxa, Ancient Thunder (Groundwood, 2006)

Short, beautifully-illustrated, and worthwhile. Yerxa celebrates man's relationship with the horse. (Whether the poem/song that comprises the book's text is Yerxa's own creation or a traditional Ojibway song I couldn't tell.) And what else do you really need to know? A must in the library of any horse-lover with a young child. *** ½