I have noticed that a lot of folklore books speak directly to their readers in the first line or page. In this book, animals and humans all spoke the same language. The style of writing in this book is story telling. The words literally tell the readers a story. Almost as if they are gathered around a fireplace in Cherokee Nation. This is evident in the lines, "Now, if you have a best friend, and you're trying to make a present to him, and someone comes along and steals it. It can make you angry." It's almost as if the author is friends with the reader. He is able to give background information and build his setting to the story this way. The "terrible insult towards the wolves" was the conflict/problem of the story. It is told flat out. The turtle outsmarts the wolves bu learns his lesson. ( )

So Possum and Turtle are eating persimmons, and then Wolf comes along and steals them mid-air while Possum is chucking them into Turtle's mouth from the tree. Possum gets pissed, so he chucks the biggest persimmon he can find into Wolf's mouth. Wolf chokes and dies. Turtle takes all the credit for putting the smackdown on Wolf, and takes his ears as tribute. Then, because Turtle is feeling mighty full of himself, he turns the ears into spoons and starts waltzing around to his tribal buddies, using them as utensils. Word gets around about how badass Turtle is, and Wolf's bros get pissed. So they snag Turtle in the middle of the night to get payback. Turtle tricks the wolves into not cooking Turtle, or boiling him, but throwing him into the river. But when they throw him in, his shell gets cracked on a rock! He limps to shore and sews together his shell again, but from then on all turtles had cracks on their back, and they never ate with wolf-ear spoons again. This is another great one for students learning about mythology and folklore in literature! ( )

A traditional Cherokee tale about when the people and animals were able to talk to each other. Detailed paintings and captivating writing brings the original tale to life, and on the last page, a bit of Cherokee history makes this a great book. Ideal for older children, 4th grade and up due to the storyline and word choice. ( )

porquoi tale, cherokee origin

porquoi tale, Cherokee origin