The Day the Sun Was Stolen [Hardcover]

Jamie Oliviero (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

After the creation of the world, only Bear is bothered by the sun's heat, but his plan to kidnap the sun is thwarted by a young boy named Ts'ina dabju, in a story based on a folktale of the Haida tribe.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-A legend from the Haida oral tradition. When Raven creates the world, he gives Bear a very thick fur coat. Bear swelters, snatches Sun from the sky, and shuts him in a cave. The world turns gray, wet and cold, until a brave boy uses a sharp clamshell to shave sleeping Bear's coat to half its thickness. Bear puts Sun back in the sky, but sleeps through winter in his thinner coat, while other animals add Bear's shorn fur to their normal coats. As pourquoi tales go, this is unexciting but economical, and the heroic act of the young boy adds some suspense and magic (via a fish-disguise) to the mix. The illustrations make maximum use of Haida stylization for the characters' faces. Even the boy has the geometric, thick-lip, large-pupil, linear eye-socket features of Northwest Coast masks, totems, and other designs (one version of which repeats as a frame-device on every spread). Less impressive is the flat-color simplification of all other background and figures. Most disappointing is the lack of any dramatic change in the tone or look of the pages to reflect the absence of the sun. The ground is still bright green, the middle distance (water) bright blue: it is hardly missed, so the emotional impact of the story is weakened. Since its loss is the one point where readers can connect with this culturally distant tale, Hitchcock's failure to communicate it is significant.
Patricia (Dooley) Lothrop Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-8. Oliviero's tale, based on a Haida Indian legend, tells of the beginning of the world when Raven created all the animals. Only Bear is displeased with Raven's gifts, for his thick coat makes him too warm in the bright sunshine. In retaliation, Bear steals the sun, hiding it inside a cave. A young boy uses his shape-changing talents to trick Bear into releasing the sun, thus saving the earth from a dark and gloomy existence. Haida artist Hitchcock's gouache-and-acrylic paintings exhibit bold hues of green, blue, and black. Her stylized characters resemble the traditional totem figures this tribe is known for and mesh nicely with the folkloric style of the text. A great addition to Native American units; pair it with Gerald McDermott's Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest (1993) for another legend about Raven and the sun. Kay Weisman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (January 1, 1900)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786800313
• ISBN-13: 978-0786800315
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,920,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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