Field Mouse Goes To War / Tusan Homichi Tuwvota

Indian Life Readers

by Edward A. Kennard, Albert Yava, Fred Kabotie (Illustrator)

The hawk was the great enemy of the Mishongnovi people. Each day he killed more chickens. Everyone agreed that someone must fight the hawk, but who? The tiny field mouse who lived at the edge of the village wanted to help. Did he have the courage and cleverness to challenge the hawk?

Field Mouse Goes to War was originally published in 1944 by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The drawings are by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie who was born at the turn of the century in the village of Shungopavy on the Second Mesa. During his long career as an artist Kabotie illustrated numerous books and won many awards for his paintings. He was commissioned by the Museum of the American Indian in New York to record authentic native Indian dances and by the Fred Harvey Company to decorate the Indian Tower on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

Reviews

[Alaina Sloo]

The picture books in this series (The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Indian Life Readers of the 1940s) were all bilingual -- english text alongside text in an indigenous language. The idea was to create storybooks for schools that combined traditional Native American story forms and culture of each of the peoples with the contemporary norms of non-Native American popular culture and lifestyles. Each of the books were also illustrated by Native American artists: books in Hopi by a Pueblo artist, books in Lakota by a Sioux artist, etc. Most of the stories weren't written by Native American authors, but I'm not knowledgable enough to know how many of them were based on actual folktales.

This story, written in Hopi and English for the Pueblo Series, is one of the books I like best: a trickster tale that reads more like a traditional folk tale. The influence of non-Native culture in the story seems (to me, at least) lighter than some of the books in the series.

Note: The books in the Indian Life Reader series are interesting reading for anyone interested in U.S. policies toward indigenous peoples in the 20th century, as policy began to move away from total cultural assimilation. Many are beautiful or entertaining stories, but they can make uncomfortable reading today. There Are Still BuffaloThe Grass Mountain Mouse, another of the Sioux Series books, tells a story about a diligent mouse as she goes through the seasons, until she learns about the rodeo for the first time and goes rodeo-crazy, foolishly giving up her diligent life. That's some heavy messaging.

[Rachel]

It's rare to see Hopi children's books, let alone bilingual ones! I loved the illustrations by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie. The story was about a brave field mouse who saves a village's chickens from a hawk. It included smoking, which is culturally appropriate, but something I had to explain to my daughter. The story, like many fairytales and folktales, went a little longer than a modern story would in its poem-like repetition of ideas, but my daughter still enjoyed it.

[Sarah Herb]

The pictures in this book are so intricate so there aren't many and there is no color. There are also a lot of pages full of words which would probably steer students away from choosing it. Otherwise, the story is bilingual and very powerful.

[Amber]

Buy this book - support Native authors. This book has both English and Hopi language describing the tale of Field Mouse going to war against the hawk threatening the village's chickens.

[David]

A wondeful children's story and a Hopi primer all wrapped up in one book!