Rabbit's Snow Dance
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Rabbit’s Snow Dance
Master storytellers Joseph and James Bruchac present a hip and funny take on an Iroquois folktale about the importance of patience, the seasons, and listening to your friends. Pair it with other stories about stubborn animals like Karma Wilson’s Bear Wants More and Verna Aardema’s Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears.
Rabbit loves the winter. He knows a dance, using an Iroquois drum and song, to make it snow—even in summertime! When rabbit decides that it should snow early, he starts his dance and the snow begins to fall. The other forest animals are not happy and ask him to stop, but Rabbit doesn’t listen. How much snow is too much, and will Rabbit know when to stop?
The father-son duo behind How Chipmunk Got His Stripes, Raccoon’s Last Race, and Turtle’s Race with Beaver present their latest retelling of Native American folklore.
“The telling is sprightly, and Newman's ink-and-watercolor artwork makes an ideal companion. An appealing addition to folktale shelves.” —Booklist
“This modern retelling maintains [the Bruchacs’] solid reputation for keeping Native American tales fresh.” —School Library Journal
“The picturesque language makes it a pleasure to read aloud.”—BCCB
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The father-and-son storytelling team behind Raccoon's Last Race and Turtle's Race with Beaver return with their version of a traditional Iroquois tale. While the Bruchacs reach back hundreds of years for the source of their story, Newman's influences are comparatively modern think Mary Blair with a touch of Hanna-Barbera. Set back when Rabbit had a "very long, beautiful tail," the story follows the selfish, impatient animal's attempts to conjure a massive midsummer snowstorm (rabbit's big snowshoe-like feet allow him to hop atop the snow and reach "tasty leaves and buds" more easily). His chanting and drumming do the trick, creating so much snow that it covers the treetops and causes difficulties for the small animals; the summer sun that rises the next day, however, brings about rabbit's comeuppance and costs him his tail. Rabbit and the other animals don't always look consistent from page to page, as though Newman couldn't quite settle on a style, but his paintings are nonetheless a welcome departure from the stodgier artwork that can often accompany myths and folk tales. Ages 3 5.
