In this book, there are no acknowledgements and no introductionsoffered by any tribal agencies or personal acknowledgements from anyNative peoples, which probably suggests the author did not haveanyone from the Native community review the book for authenticity.Published in 1993, the book won the Caldecott Honor award in 1994 aswell as many other awards: the American Library Association NotableChildren's book, the Boston Glove-Horn Book Honor, the New YorkPublic Library's '100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.' The CaldecottMedal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustratorRandolph Caldecott. No one, with theexception of the chief, his daughter and of course the beak-nosedRaven are depicted as individuals. The artist/author, McDermott, illustrates the people asgeneric and they all have the same features. Infact they do look like Russians from the far northern areas ofRussia. And in one section of the book, when the people aregathered in the house containing the sun, they are similarly dressedin elaborate costumes, which to me have a heavy Russian influence. The Sky Chief and the rest of thecommunity resemble Aleut people in dress as well as in physicalfeatures. Mind you, McDermott is an excellent artist however, small children(recommended reading level is 2 nd grade) might not likethe looks of Raven as a boy because his body is depicted as a child'syet complete with a Raven's beak. But how will he get insidethe house? And once inside, how will he escape to bring lightto the world?" This is a popular and frequently told story about howRaven steals the sun from a chief thus bringing light into the world.This retelling of the same story in a picture book format is a jumblefrom several versions found throughout the Pacific Northwestincluding Alaska. In this mysterious story, he searches for the lighthidden in the house of Sky Chief. "Raven: A Trickster Tale From The Pacific Northwest."Īccording to the book "Raven: A Trickster Tale From the PacificNorthwest" and a website sponsored by the author Gerald McDermott andthe publisher Voyager/Harcourt Books (ISBN 0-15-265661-8), "Raven, ofNative American tradition, is a powerful trickster on a cosmicscale.
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