Summary:
This book is about a coyote who goes to a lake to get salt for his wife to cook with, but returns twice with no salt. The coyote is lazy and once he gets to the lake he falls asleep. Some butterflies decide to play a trick on him and carry him back home. The coyote does this two times and the butterflies carry him home while he is sleeping both time. The third time the coyote goes to the lake a different way. He fills his bag with salt before he falls asleep. This time the butterflies feel sorry for the tired coyote and the do carry him back in his sleep, but they also carry his bag of salt back. When he wakes up he is confused, but happy that he has the salt this time. his wife then makes a big feast for everyone.

Personal Reaction:
This book reminds me of my kids playing tricks on each other. One always thinks it's funny, but the other definitely does not agree.

Classroom Extensions:
This would be a good book to read when you have a prankster in your class. They may be able to see, that just because they are laughing, not everyone may think it is so funny.
This would also be a good book to read to a child that is being lazy. When you are being lazy, you are going to miss something, just like the coyote didn't know how he got home.

Summary: Coyote's wife asks him to make the journey to the salt lake to get her salt for cooking. When Coyote travels to the lake he falls asleep and the tricky butterflies carry him back to his home while he is sleeping. His wife is mad and asks him to go back and get the salt. Again the butterflies take the salt-less Coyote back to his home. Finally, on Coyote's last trip the butterflies bring him back home with lots of salt.
Review: Another great Native American story/myth. These types of books are so fun to read and include many fun animal character interactions. The art is nice and basic in this tale, it is the story line that shines in Coyote and the Laughing Butterflies.
Themes: Trickery, responsibility, and work ethic