Customer Reviews

A Man Called Raven

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This book is another in my "read-aloud classic" list. It has beautiful illustrations which enhance the mystery of the story nicely. It brings Native American traditions into a modern setting very effectively. And it does a nice job of never coming right out and saying the man is the raven, but leaves you with the feeling of wind from a Raven's wings across the back of your neck -- it gave me shivers! Take care of animals, take care of traditions, and know who you are, are this book's implied morals. A very neat book.

Chris and Toby are hitting a raven with their hockey sticks. The raven manges to get away from the two boys. When they turn around n angry man is standing before them asking them why they were hurting the Raven. The angry man has the boys lead them to their parents. After speaking with their mother, the angry man tells the boys a story about man who liked to hurt ravens. This man was old and mean, who didn't have any friends, and took joy in hurting ravens with blunt arrows. One rave, after he hurt it, began to follow the man wherever he went. To get away from the raven, he slept and began to live in the tree tops. One day he slipped and fell but before he could hit the ground he turned into a raven and started to fly. Even though he turned into a raven, he was still mean. In an attempt to spy on all those in the village he found that they were holding a funeral for him and that everyone turned up, not to laugh but to pay their respects to him - everyone loved him, to his surprise. From then on man who turned into a raven watched over his people. He even helped his people once from freezing in a snowstorms. After the angry man told them this story the boys understood and saw him leave, as a Raven.

The characters of this picture book are developed through their actions - the boys learn a lesson, as well as the old mean man who changed into a Raven. I loved the theme of this book: treat everyone and everything with respect, including animals. I was actually surprised at the ending of this picture book, the man ended up being the Raven. I found myself liking the author's writing style as well as the beautiful illustrations.