Customer Reviews

Kokopelli & the Butterfly

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

 

 

What a wonderful book! The dedication of this book to strengthening the bond between parent and child and to promoting book reading in this day of MTV and violent video games make _Kokopelli & The Butterfly_ a true winner! But that's not all! It has a beautiful story with some of the most colorful, eye-appealing illustrations I have ever seen! The pictures will keep a child's attention now and the story of love, nature and goodness will stay with the reader forever. Bravo! This book should be in the hands of every child.

My daughter and I love to read, and now we have a new favorite book! Kokopelli and the Butterfly is a beautiful story for both children and adults. The pictures are amazing and the writing brings you right into the story. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates family time and wants to encourage reading at home! The book is sized so your child can sit in your lap and hold half of the book while the parent holds the other half. Really neat!

I am a 16-year-old Kokopelli fanatic, and while this book tells a story different from the hunchbacked fluteplayer's that we're used to, it is still amazing. Full of beautiful lessons about love, respect, nature, harmony, kindness, etc., it tells the tale of Kokopelli and how he finds the woman he loves.

The author came to the nice children's bookstore that I worked at with this self-published book of his. He seems to honestly want to help create positive change in the world. He certainly is working hard at trying.
But we wished that someone had sat him down for an honest talk and/or that a competent editor had suggested the very extensive re-writes needed for this to be a good book (the owner of the store is a retired children's book editor, so this is not just a random opinion).
As it is, this book is very poorly written. Kokopelli is a cross between Snow White and Jesus Christ. He teaches the Native Americans, who are living in teepees and have no industry, how to not pollute. We all laughed really hard at that one. He teaches them how to live in peace...except for with their one other neighbor tribe who like war. All the animals love him and follow him around. Guess he is a vegetarian? No mention of him teaching the natives that. Cliches abound.
Anyway, he goes to visit the bad guys and they have a captive butterfly. He frees the butterfly and it turns into a hot chick and they go off together. Nice work, bra.
Really making a more peaceful world starts with understanding that most often there are not good groups and bad groups in a conflict. Perpetuating the good/bad duality is unproductive.
The author has good intentions, but he needs real help here. He is not much of a writer. His plot is pathetic. He has no insight into what would make people more peaceful or more environmentally conscious. He does have a real commitment to helping, but he needs someone else to help him first.
It is great to encourage people to follow their dreams, but we need to also be honest with them about what they need to do to realize them. If no publisher will print your book, take that as a sign that you need expert help to make your book better. Self-publishing is not a solution.