Customer Reviews

Shingebiss: An Ojibwe Legend

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Van Laan's retelling of this legend, a favorite of mine as a child, is a wonderful find! The story is comforting and exciting for children as young as 4 as a read to. It's good for use in schools, thanks to her authentic use of Ojibwa names for the characters. But those same names make it hard for younger readers to pick up the book--read it to them first and then they will be motivated to work through the Ojibwa words. I'm only mildly fond of the woodcuts.

I was drawn to this book because I learned that the woodcuts were by Betsy Bowen, who has a fine arts shop and studio near Lake Superior's north shore. Her woodcuts in the marvelous Helen Hoover children's story Great Wolf and the Good Woodsman were so phenomenal, I wanted to see more. She is extremely gifted and knowledgeable in her craft. In fact, at the story's end, there is an illustrator's note in which Ms. Bowen explains the process of creating woodblock prints. Very interesting is the fact "the shape of the borders [of the prints] was inspired by the shape of the Ojibwe birchbark ricing baskets."

This Ojibwe legend, as retold with carefulness, selectivity and skill by Nancy Van Laan (she has a knack for using just the right word) is deep, touching and beautiful. It would be fascinating to any child. It also offers an education into the Ojibway vocabulary, incorporated in the text so naturally the one feels like one is living in the wood right alongside Shingebiss (pronounced ZHING-gih-biss), a very brave and plucky merganser duck, who manages to get the best of a formidable winter visitor - Kabibona'kan, Winter Maker himself, who tries with all his might (and it is plentiful) to do the duck in. But this special duck is not a quitter, and even his Winter Maker enemy finally concedes, since "he [Shingebiss] is a very singular being...I will let him alone."

And even to this day, during Moon of the Freezing Over the Earth (November); Spirit Moon (December); Great Spirit Moon (January); Stingy Moon (February); and my favorite, Maple Sugar Moon (March), Kabibona'kan has kept his promise. "Year after year, even in the coldest of months, Shingebiss continues to live out the winter by breaking through the ice and diving for fish."

Among sources cited for this book is the following: "Tobacco and gifts were taken to an elder in the Grand Portage Chippewa Band to ask for an understanding of this story."

For sheer delight and beauty, this is the book!