Uncle Smoke Stories [Hardcover]

Roger Welsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1994 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Welcome to the Big Belly Lodge, where master storyteller Uncle Smoke mesmerizes his audience four nights running with tales of the legendary Indian trickster-hero Coyote. Funny, surprising, and rich with meaning, Uncle Smoke's stories speak of the traditional ways to keep the unwritten history of his people alive. An introduction and glossary of Native American terms are included.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Masterful original stories, written by the accomplished folklorist and adopted member of the Omaha, bring his fictional Plains Indian tribe to life. In an introduction, Welsch explains why he has invented a tribe rather than use a specific people. He introduces Uncle Smoke, a respected Nehawka storyteller, who for four nights during the harvest moon visits the Big Belly Lodge telling tales of Coyote. In the first tale, the foolish animal lets a fine young buffalo get away for three years, waiting for it to grow even larger, until after the fourth year, the bull is no longer in his hunting grounds and Coyote goes hungry, as does his grandmother. The second tale involves the flooding of the village by the Smokey River (Missouri) many generations ago. All gathered to see what could be done. Coyote cast the only dissenting vote to the Council's plan to halt the river, adding one additional vote from an unnamed source. All scorned him. The Smokey River swallowed the village, and Coyote quietly revealed that the second dissenting vote came from the River itself. "Actually no one else's vote mattered." And the Nehawka prosper in their new village, yet feel the sadness of loss in hearing the story again. "Coyote and His Shadow" and "The Story of Coyote's Courtship" place the trickster in partnership with Rabbit in tricks, and then as warriors in a ludicrously successful confrontation with an enemy. Villagers, adults and children, are drawn as full characters. This is an ideal chapter book for children graduating from easy readers into novels, and great read-aloud material. It's simple, profound, unique, and first-rate.
Jacqueline Elsner, Athens Regional Library, GA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 91 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (October 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679854509
• ISBN-13: 978-0679854500
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,285,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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