Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children

by Joseph Bruchac, Joseph Bruchac

These traditional Native American stories along with related activities show parents and teachers how to teach children the importance of wildlife in Native American traditions. As the stories unfold and the activities come to life, the importance of our connections to animals became apparent.

Features traditional Native American stories.
Includes field-tested activities appropriate for all ages.
Connects wildlife ecology and environmental issues.
Fosters creative thinking and the synthesis of knowledge and experience.

The stories in this book present some of the basic perspectives that Native North American parents, aunts and uncles use to teach the young. They are phrased in terms that modern youngsters can understand and appreciate, along with eye-catching illustrations and photographs throughout.

Look for other Fulcrum books in this Keepers of the Earth, Keepers of Life and Keepers of the Night .

Genres: Native American, Animals, Nature, Childrens, Teaching, Short Stories

288 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 1997

About the author

Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret, and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his wife, Carol, he is the founder and Co-Director of the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief. Forthcoming titles include Squanto's Journey (Harcourt), a picture book, Sacajawea (Harcourt), an historical novel, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee & Low), a picture book, and Pushing Up The Sky (Dial), a collection of plays for children. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee Nation Prose Award, the Knickerbocker Award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children's Literature and both the 1998 Writer of the Year Award and the 1998 Storyteller of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children (which was published in 1991), each of the featured traditional Native American/Canadian tales, lyrically, beautifully retold by Abenaki children's author Joseph Bruchac, evocatively illustrated by Haudenosaunee artist John Kahionhes Fadden and then followed by detailed discussion prompts as well as Michael J. Caputo's zoological information and a plethora of possible environmental and animal welfare, conservation based activities (for children, for students) acknowledges the Native North American cultures (the tribal affiliations) in which the respective stories originated and with accompanying maps helping readers (or listeners) to locate, to visually situate where the different cultural groups (tribes) traditionally resided (and often of course still reside) in North America (in the USA and Canada). And yes, considering that every tale featured (encountered) in Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children is about one to three pages in length, this in my humble opinion also makes these accounts absolutely ideal for reading aloud and therefore not only making use of oral tradition but also celebrating the latter and pointing out with Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children that first and foremost, that traditionally, Native American/Canadian stories, culture and education were and still are based on oral transmission, on the elders teaching via word-of-mouth.

And once a tale has been shared, and students have reflected on the story via the discussion prompts, Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children then (and as already pointed out) offers Michael J. Caputo's many suggestions for ecological activities to solidify and expand the learning of the story, field trips, demonstrations, experiments, puppet shows, the list is wonderfully expansive, comprehensively thorough, although sometimes perhaps also just a wee bit overly enthusiastic, as I for one certainly have felt at times somewhat inundated and textually overwhelmed (and just to necessarily point out that Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children also celebrates and teaches about the importance and cultural significance of Native American/Canadian hunting, although there is nothing all that textually problematic for me regarding this, as both Michael J. Caputo and Jospeh Bruchac might show hunting as important for Native American culture, lore and life but also demonstrate that traditional tribal hunting practices are not meant for fun and for sport, for mass killings of animals but for providing sustenance and are also spiritually respectful of the prey animals and of their sacrifices so that the hunters and their tribes, their dependants can eat, can survive and prosper). And yes indeed, I do very much appreciate, value and also cherish the activity suggestions, the tales themselves, the information presented and shared by Joseph Bruchac and Michael J. Caputo and definitely do thus consider Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children a wonderful teaching resource for both in class and at home use (geared mostly towards grades three to grade eight, but that of course the activities can also be modified for younger and also for older ages).
     
Finally (last but definitely not least), the glossary and pronunciation key at the back of Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children and that there are source notes at the end of each story/activities section, this is for and to me an added bonus, very much both enjoyed and also warmly appreciated, as is Joseph Bruchac's section titled Other Versions of Native American Stories, where Bruchac discusses his story selection process and his interest in respecting the traditional oral culture of Native American/Canadian stories, and with me certainly and definitely considering Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children as an excellent and useable teaching resource (and my only annoyance and potential caveat being that the font size of the text for the non story parts of Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children is rather minuscule and thus also rather hard to read and painful for ageing eyes).

[Bre Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wildlife, Respect, Science
Bruchac, Joseph and Caduto, Michael J. Keepers of the Animals. MI: Fulcrum Publishing, 1991. 288 pp. Primary and up
Different stories all rolled into one book about the importance of wildlife and the respect for wildlife and the environment in Native American traditions. Another great book teaching the importance of how we are to respect the ecosystem around us.
Alaska Connection: Wildlife, Value of Resepct for Wildlife
Related Activity: How can you show respect for animals in your community?

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comprehensive books is an amalgam of informational text on how to involve children in wildlife activities and Native Amrican folktales featuring the animals on which the activities are focused. The book is strategically organized by location of the tribe, the stories, discussion, questions, and then activities which enable children to apply the information they have learned to real life experiences.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keepers of the Animals
Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children

by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
forward by Vine Deloria, Jr.
Story Illustrations by John Kahionhes Fadden and Melody Lightfeather
Chapter Illustrations by D.D. Tyler and Carol Wood

Fulcrum Publishing
Golden, Colorado

ISBN 1-55591-088-2
cover image: "Dream Quest" by John Kahionhes Fadden

CPL
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98
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1991

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first in a series of four books I've just declared to be my children's upcoming science curriculum. Each chapter starts with a Native American tale and then continues with facts and activities for teaching children. I'm loving it so far, but I'll find out in the fall how the kids feel about it.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book for parents and teachers. Each chapter contained a legend, a discussion of scientific information (such as information on mammals), discussion questions, and activities. I would recommend purchasing this book and the explore one concept/chapter per month. Use the time in between readings for the activities and extending the experience activities.

[Laura Flett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice Aborginal environmental education teaching resource. I would have loved to have seen more unique and creative activities accompanying each story though. Sometimes the activities were bland or well known.

[Dawn]

Another Great Collection of Native American Stories.