Customer Reviews

Grandmother Spider Brings the Sun: A Cherokee Story

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a wonderful telling of a truly Cherokee tale. Most stories written after the oral tradition can be a litte stale. Keams avoids this by modernizing the language for her younger readers. The Coyote, btw, comes from the Western Cherokee, after the removal. I was told this story as a child by my Western Cherokee Grandfather with the Coyote, and by my Eastern Tribes Grandmother without it. It would be correct either way. All in all, a wonderful retelling.

This marvelous story of how tiny and ancient Grandmothe Spider successfully brings the sun, something larger and more spritely animals before her could not accomplish, was written to be read aloud. Instead of the usual stereotypical "ancient legend storyelling" literary style we often see with retelling of traditional tales, this legend is refreshingly written in a colloquial manner. This style, as well as the two-page layout with text on one side, makes this an excellent book to read aloud. The textures and colors and expressive animal illustrations can be shown to their best advantage. My boys love all the animal pictures, the humor, and the exciting fire-spouting Sun Guard monsters! We return again and again to see and hear the sweet-faced but proud and determined Grandma Spider as she demonstrates why she is so respected and revered.

I have had the pleasure of hearing Geri Keams tell this story in person. It is a very entertaining story. Children will love it! I recomend this book to anyone!

This book was a very animated and very illustrated story book. It was very cute but some of the images can be scary for small children. I really liked it. I added it to my Native American Book Collection. Very Good Book

I am a grown up who read this book for my own enjoyment. I thought the illustrations were wonderful and the story funny. I would have laughed out loud except for the middle school age children who were concentrating on their work while I was enjoying myself with this book.

I bought this book two years ago when my 5 year old twins where learning English. We have read it a lot since then and they still love it. The pictures are beatuful and we have talked a lot about them. It's a great story told in a good way.

This book has a slangy style that violates the spirit of Native American storytelling. The author "borrows" from the Cherokees but gives no source notes. There are better versions of this myth available.

This could have been a good book except for the fact that the author claimed it is Cherokee. Cherokee stories do not have coyote as a character. The author should perhaps stick to Navajo stories from her own heritage, or relate stories from other cultures more accurately.