he Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land

Bibliographic information: 

Bruchas, Joseph.  The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land.  Trumpet, 1995, illust. Locker, Thomas, p. 30.

Brief plot description:

The topics that these poems are about are stars of the bear, following Sky Bear, fireflies, flute to help things grow, Northern lights, mice, releasing the stars into the sky, seven wise men that become stars for all to see, how good rains come, roaming Earth, lots of song references, and dancing.  These poems are written by many Native American tribes located across the United States.  The illustrations help tell the story of the poem, are in color, some bright colors others dull, detailed but not finely detailed, and they match the poems.  The extras in the book Author’s Notes and A Note About this Book.

Brief review:

I like this book because it tells several interesting poems about Native Americans and how they live or what they commonly think of Earth.  I think this book would be good for fourth graders through sixth grade as a read aloud and individual read.  This book would be great to use when discussing the many tribes of Native Americans.  The illustrator included pictures that were brilliant and helped tell the different stories.  It could also be used to talk about poems and the type of poems and how they can be used to tell stories. 

Genre label:

Poetry

Reading level/interest level:

4^th – 6^th grade

Similar materials in style content, theme or characters:

The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North American by Joseph Brunchac

Tikta-Liktak: An Inuit-Eskimo Legend by James M. Houston

How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?: And Other Tales by Julius Lester