Customer Reviews

Bears Make Rock Soup: And Other Stories

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"Bears Make Soup and Other Stories" might seem like a collection of ancient Native American stories but this is actually a rather unique collection of new tales reflecting the time when people and animals spoke to each other in dreams. Artist Lisa Fifield, a watercolorist and quilt maker enrolled in the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, created 14 paintings focusing on animals that still live on the plains and in the woodlands of North America, such as black bears, deer, moose, loons, and crows. Then writer Lisa Erdrich, who is enrolled in the Turlte Mountain Band of Plains Ojibway wrote stories to bring the pictures to life. The stories are organized by animals, so that you start with several stories about bears, including "The Bears that Couldn't Hibernate" nd the title story, then move on to the other species of animals. The points made by the stories are usually subtle, and reflect the sense of harmony between living things as much as anything else. The stories show animals and people teaching and learning from one another, as well as helping each other in times of need. I can see a teacher showing a class one of these paintings, such as The Naming Ceremony or Forest of the Deer Spirits, and having students come up with their own stories before sharing the one with the book. It would interesting to see if the students would catch on to the spirit of these stories if they did this a few time and became better able to anticipate what Erdich came up with from Fifield's artwork. "Bears Make Rock Soup and Other Stories" is a simple but elegant collection of stories.

Bears Make Rock Soup And Other Stories is a highly recommended children's picture book of original tales written by Lise Erdrich (a member of the Turtle Mountain and of Plains Ojibway) and illustrated with paintings by water colorist Lisa Fifield (member of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin). The distinctive and colorful art wonderfully complements the brief, unique, fairytale-like narratives of creatures of the earth and sky.

My grandson loves to hear stories about himself and Lise Erdrich has captured that magic of making many see the truth in these old stories. Our heritage may not be French, Owjibe, nor African but these old stories are about humans and connect the world. This book has wonderful pictures and the words strung together by this author, even if she says she does not write poetry, have lessons that young people are learning every day but just can't quite articulate. A book that will be treasured always.