Old Eagle Nester: The Lost Legends of the Catskills

by Doris West Brooks, Sara Minaudo (Illustrator)

Nominated for the prestigous Anne Izard Storytelling Award, The Old Eagle-Nester is part of a great treadition of New York State sory collectors.

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Dorine]

I read this book because it was given to me by a friend who actually knows the author because he grew up in East Jewett, NY, the central location of the book. This book tells some entertaining "stories," but it was the wording of the stories that I thought was rather simplistic for my liking. I'm also NOT a fan of short stories even though all of the stories in this particular book are connected in some way. Let's just say I'm just glad it took less than a day to finish.

[Michael Neirinckx]

This book is RARE. Not just in terms of its publication and distribution, for which it certainly is rare, but also in terms of its style. This is a collection of folk tales, as passed down by the settlers and subsequent generations of one tiny, somewhat secluded hamlet within the Catskill Mountains in New York. Now, a collection of folk-tales is common enough, but all too often they are based upon a culture - such as a collection of Wampanoag stories, Celtic stories, Japanese Ghost Stories, or mythological stories. Occasionally you will find regional collections, but those will encompass a much wider area, such as all of New England. And then you of course have the ubiquitous regional collection of ghost stories, which are fine, but are always too one-note, lacking a certain variety and color.

The other reason that collections like this are rare is because the age where it was possible to have an isolated, insular frontier community that develops over generations are completely gone. Any stories, legends, and tall tales that came out of these communities, if they haven't been set to print by now, are likely completely lost to time.

Just for those reasons alone, this book is an absolute treasure. I wish Doris West Brooks were still alive today, because I would write a letter to thank her for what she has done here. I am not exaggerating when I say that this little under-distributed, under-read volume here is a legit contribution to storytelling history. It is of tremendous importance. If you are reading this, then you have found yourself a gem.

The actual stories within are wonderful. They are varied, interesting, and written with an infectious love of place, storytelling, and community that were clearly deeply personal to Mrs. Brooks. These stories are varied in the ways only a secluded frontier community could produce over decades: there are elements of ghost stories, magical realism, animalism, survival, historical everyday country-living, witchcraft, religion, adventure and whimsy throughout.

For those who love the idea of going to an old crones house in your town and hearing her tell you town legends passed down through the years, this one is for you. I can't recommend this enough.

PS. The illustrations are amazing! Just look at that cover.

[Wils Cain]

This was cute and silly. Just grabbed it because it's the Catskills.

[Thomas Cavanagh]

cool book