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How Chipmunk Got His Stripes

By Joseph Bruchac and James Bruchac; illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey

 

I’m sure I’ve seen a chipmunk or two scurrying across the farm fields this spring, so when I saw this picture book, his look started to make perfect sense to me – in its literary back story.

Most cultures have explanations in story form of how things got the way they are in nature.

And, this particular tale finds its roots in a widely told one among Native American Indians, as the Author Notes point out.

Young readers will love the toe-to-toe or paw-to-paw boasting contest, between a bear that boasts he is the strongest of all the animals and can do anything and a small, Brown Squirrel that says, Not!

The Brown Squirrel even has the temerity to ask the question that ups the ante of the word, “anything.”

 

            “Can you tell the sun not to rise

            tomorrow morning?” Brown Squirrel

            asked.

 

And the gauntlet is thrown down as Bear says Yea! and squirrel says Nay!

Bear’s chanting fills the night air with:

 

     The sun will not come up, hummph!

     The sun will not come up, hummph!

 

And Brown Squirrel counters this boast with his own:

 

        The sun is going to rise, oooh!

The sun is going to rise, oooh!

 

The entire forest family is awake all night to see who will win!

Young readers will love seeing the Fox, Wolf, Deer, Moose, Rabbit and Porcupine, keeping watch till “dawn’s early light,” finally, and inevitably, reveals the winner.

And, it’s that cheeky Brown Squirrel, of course!

But, can he be gracious in victory, as his wise grandmother has previously advised, with the shared wisdom of age?

Nope!

He has to begin teasing the Bear:

 

        Bear is foolish, the sun came up.

        Bear is silly, the sun came up

        Bear is stupid, the sun –

 

And, as the chant increases in tease-worthy words, so the Bear’s anger increases to the point of….

Well, now that would be telling the entire tale, wouldn’t it?

Suffice to say, that both animals learn a lasting lesson, though it seems the Brown Squirrel wears his for the rest of his life for all to see.

Both boasting and teasing don’t pay in the short or long term, is the moral for Bear and Squirrel aka Chipmunk, in James and Joseph Bruchac’s tale of a striped tail.

It was named an NCSS-CBC Notable Trade book in the field of Social Studies, as well as “Parenting Magazine” deeming it a “Reading-Magic Award Winner.

And Kirkus Reviews had this to say:

 

         The Bruchacs translate the orality

         of the tale to written text beautifully.

         Aruego and Dewey’s signature cart-

         toon-like illustrations extend the

         humor of the text perfectly.

 

This terrific tale called “How a Chipmunk Got His Stripes,” has a gentle and humorous way of imparting a “life lesson” that may calm both boasting and teasing in your household for a bit.

It’s a great read aloud for young readers, too!

Hey, I can make…

No, let me rethink that one!

So, don’t be a sore winner, kids!

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Have you heard Joe Bruchac tell a story? He's got a terrific voice for telling stories. As I read Rabbit's Snow Dance, I was able to play that voice in my head as Rabbit says:

"I want snow," he said. "I want it, I want it, I want it right now!"

Rabbit's Snow Dance is by Joe and his son, James. And, I gotta say, it is absolutely delightful!


Rabbit, you see, wants the tasty leaves and buds at the top of the trees. He can't reach them, but he knows that if there was a lot of snow on the ground, he could stand on it and get those tasty treats. He knows a snow dance, too, and thinks he'll sing the song and do the dance, even though it isn't the right season to do it...

The combination of the Bruchac's storytelling and Jeff Newman's illustrations works perfectly. Here's the cover:




On the cover, Rabbit is playing a hand drum. Notice the drumstick in his left paw? Newman obviously did some research, or, maybe he knows from experience that Native peoples do not play a drum with a bare hand. So many illustrators get that wrong! Newman got it right.

Rabbit's Snow Dance, we learn on the title page inside, is a traditional Iroquois story. Back in 1993, Betsy Hearne developed a Source Note Countdown as part of her article, "Cite the Source: Reducing Cultural Chaos in Picture Books, Part 1." In model source notes, we'd learn just where the story came from, when and how it ought to be told (its cultural context), and, how the teller changed it from the version he or she heard/read it from. We don't have any of that in Rabbit's Snow Dance. Joe has provided it for other books. I wrote to a storyteller a couple of years ago. He told me that publisher's don't want to give authors space for that information. If that is the status of model notes right now, I think we're all losing out. There are, for example, six different tribal nations within the Iroquois: Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, Tuscarora, Mohawk, and Cayuga. Do they share this story? Or, does it belong to one in particular?

That said, I do think Rabbit's Snow Dance has a lot to offer as a read-aloud and highly recommend it. I'll look around for some source info and share it when I get it. Perhaps you can print it out and insert it yourself.

Details!
Rabbit's Snow Day
As told by James and Joseph Bruchac
Illustrated by Jeff Newman
Published by Dial, in 2012.

Order it from your favorite independent bookseller right away so you'll have it for the snowtimes that are upon us---not because of Rabbit's dance, but because its Wintertime. Snowtime!

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