Native American Legends of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley

by Katharine Berry Judson

A reprint of the 1914 Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes published by A. C. McClurg Publishing as part of a series Judson was writing on Native American stories from various regions. A new long introduction augments her original preface. She made a point of not revising the stories into literary creations, but kept the words close to the original transcriptions, which she apparently did not make herself. There is no bibliography or attribution beyond tribal names. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Native American

204 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2000

Reviews

[Chantal Eckhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this as a possible 1st grade curriculum addition and it fit the bill. I'm learning about the importance of legends, fairy tales, myths, and fables. Legends and myths particularly lay a foundation for understanding the history of a place, and we needed to choose a book about the first peoples of the land we live on.

It has been fascinating to learn that almost every culture (including, but also outside of native American tribes) has a creation and flood story and those are shared in the beginning of this collection. The stories near the end of this are more fun and light-hearted, stories about animals tricking other animals and so that's why their tail or coloring is the way it is and such. I can't wait to share these with my first grader!

[Aliza Prodaniuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good collection of stories from several Indigenous groups. Although some of the language was outdated (the book is out of print), the information was helpful to my own writing and comprehensive in its content.