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The Boy Who Lived with the Bears Audio: And Other Iroquois Stories
Some of the best-loved animal folktales from the Iroquois tradition are brought to life by renowned storyteller Joe Bruchac in this award-winning audio collection.
Audio Cassette
First published November 1, 1990
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About the author
Joseph Bruchac
288 books603 followersJoseph 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 16, 2019
Abenaki storyteller and children's author Joseph Bruchac - who has explored a seemingly endless variety of genres in his writing, from intermediate horror novels like
Skeleton Man
, to picture-book biographies such as
Crazy Horse's Vision
- presents six traditional Iroquois folktales in this engaging collection, related to him over the years by Iroquois elders. Accompanied by the appealing illustrations of Murv Jacob, who is probably best known for his work on Deborah L. Duvall's series, The Grandmother Stories (
The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals
,
How Rabbit Lost His Tail
, etc.), these tales are both entertaining and instructive - sure to please folklore lovers young and old.
Here is the story of Rabbit and Fox, in which the clever Rabbit continuously outwits his would-be hunter, eventually tricking him into eating a rotten log. In the titular The Boy Who Lived with the Bears, a hunter who "did not have a straight mind," leaves his nephew to die in a blocked-up cave, but is subsequently reunited with him, when he is rescued by the animals of the forest, and adopted by a mother bear. How the Birds Got Their Feathers relates the tale of Buzzard, who undertakes the arduous journey to the Skyland, in order to bring back the clothing promised to the birds by the Creator, only to find himself stuck with the least desirable "suit," because he cannot be satisfied.
The humorous Turtle Makes War On Man follows three "warriors" - Turtle, Skunk and Snake - as they set out to attack an Iroquois village, only to find that the women of the village are more than a match for them. Chipmunk and Bear, in which Bear is convinced he can do anything, and Chipmunk asks him whether he can prevent the sun from rising, is a cautionary tale intended to warn the reader/listener not to tease others, and has also been retold by Bruchac in picture-book format, as How Chipmunk Got His Stripes . Finally, Rabbit's Snow Dance relates the story of Rabbit, who discovers that a little bit of a good thing is sometimes enough, when his Snow Dance brings him more than he expected.
Here is the story of Rabbit and Fox, in which the clever Rabbit continuously outwits his would-be hunter, eventually tricking him into eating a rotten log. In the titular The Boy Who Lived with the Bears, a hunter who "did not have a straight mind," leaves his nephew to die in a blocked-up cave, but is subsequently reunited with him, when he is rescued by the animals of the forest, and adopted by a mother bear. How the Birds Got Their Feathers relates the tale of Buzzard, who undertakes the arduous journey to the Skyland, in order to bring back the clothing promised to the birds by the Creator, only to find himself stuck with the least desirable "suit," because he cannot be satisfied.
The humorous Turtle Makes War On Man follows three "warriors" - Turtle, Skunk and Snake - as they set out to attack an Iroquois village, only to find that the women of the village are more than a match for them. Chipmunk and Bear, in which Bear is convinced he can do anything, and Chipmunk asks him whether he can prevent the sun from rising, is a cautionary tale intended to warn the reader/listener not to tease others, and has also been retold by Bruchac in picture-book format, as How Chipmunk Got His Stripes . Finally, Rabbit's Snow Dance relates the story of Rabbit, who discovers that a little bit of a good thing is sometimes enough, when his Snow Dance brings him more than he expected.
April 23, 2012
Folktales
A compilation of 6 Iroquois Folktales.
I particularly liked the story of the boy who lives with bears. In the cinderella fairytales I had been reading this story carried a lot of similarities to Cinderella only as a boy. It was interesting to see another culture, far removed from Europe and Asia, with similar storyteller elements.
A compilation of 6 Iroquois Folktales.
I particularly liked the story of the boy who lives with bears. In the cinderella fairytales I had been reading this story carried a lot of similarities to Cinderella only as a boy. It was interesting to see another culture, far removed from Europe and Asia, with similar storyteller elements.
July 9, 2020
Charming, simply charming. So glad I happened upon it! May I recommend the audio version especially :)
May 22, 2008
CIP: Presents a collection of traditional Iroquois tales in which animals learn about the importance of caring and responsibility and the dangers of selfishness and pride.
This is an enjoyable, but forgetable read. It is broken into chapters with each chapter being a different tale. As you read you absorb unique aspects of Native American storytelling, but a few days later most is forgotten. I wish the book would have grabbed my attention better, so I could walk away with something, anything! I would put the reading level at 4-8th gr.
Reviewed in School Library Journal (Nov 1995) and Horn Book Magazine (Nov-Dec 1995).
This is an enjoyable, but forgetable read. It is broken into chapters with each chapter being a different tale. As you read you absorb unique aspects of Native American storytelling, but a few days later most is forgotten. I wish the book would have grabbed my attention better, so I could walk away with something, anything! I would put the reading level at 4-8th gr.
Reviewed in School Library Journal (Nov 1995) and Horn Book Magazine (Nov-Dec 1995).
March 23, 2017
I absolutely love any type of folk tale that explain how certain animals received certain traits. This book is full of stories like that from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people. The illustrations were gorgeous and the stories entertaining. I read a few of them to my seven year old brother, and he decided to write his own story about animals right then and there. That makes me extremely happy. <3
February 1, 2013
I loved every single one of these stories. They were lovely and satisfyingly structured. My favorite was the story the book is titled for, The Boy Who Lived With Bears. Any of these would be a great selection for children ages 5-9. The illustrations are stunningly beautiful and detailed. No red flags.
June 17, 2019
A compilation of six Iroquois folktales with animals as the main characters, this captures the oral tradition feeling well. Bruchac acts as storyteller, and he does an excellent job. The illustrations are wonderful, although there are not enough of them.
September 29, 2021
The introduction explains the Haudenosaunee (“People of the Longhouse”), where they live, how they live and how they tell stories. This book is a collection of folktales.
The first story is about a rabbit that manages to outwit a fox. This story is so similar to the enslaved African folktales of Br'er rabbit and may have influenced the popular rabbit tale. It's also similar to Aesop's Fables. Kids will be able to guess at where rabbit is and what will happen next which is part of the charm of the story.
The title story "The Boy Who Lived With Bears" is a different type of story. It's both horrifying and beautiful at the same time. A boy is taken in by his cruel uncle and a ala Snow White's stepmother, the boy is left in the woods to be eaten by wild animals. Of course that's not the case and each type of animal invites him to live with them. He chooses the right one and they help shelter him and treat him as family. Then the two-legged hunters come and the boy and his family are in peril. The conclusion to the story was rather like a fairy tale but beautiful and inspiring. It encourages people to take a second look at someone who seems cruel or mentally ill. Perhaps they may turn out to surprise you in the end.
The legends are similar to Aesop's Fables and Kipling's Just So Stories, even the African /enslaved African-American folktales about Br'er rabbit (the famous version originated with the Cherokee). They seek to explain something in the natural world.
"How the Birds Got Their Feathers" Buzzard couldn't decide which beautiful coat to wear when the creator was handing out feathers to birds. He ended up stuck with the ugly suit that didn't fit well but the story redeems buzzard and makes him a noble beast.
"Turtle Makes War on Man" is an interesting trickster story and also explains about turtle, skunk, and rattlesnake physical characteristics and habits.
"Chimpunk and Bear" this one was a little harder to figure out what the moral was supposed to be. It's a short story where the chipmunk and bear battle over the sunrise. The tale shows how chipmunk outwitted bear and got his stripes.
"Rabbit's Snow Dance" explains why rabbit has short legs, a split nose and stubby tail. It also explains why we see pussy willows in the early spring-they are a reminder of how rabbit made it snow and lost his tail.
The illustrations are stunning and not to be missed!
The first story is about a rabbit that manages to outwit a fox. This story is so similar to the enslaved African folktales of Br'er rabbit and may have influenced the popular rabbit tale. It's also similar to Aesop's Fables. Kids will be able to guess at where rabbit is and what will happen next which is part of the charm of the story.
The title story "The Boy Who Lived With Bears" is a different type of story. It's both horrifying and beautiful at the same time. A boy is taken in by his cruel uncle and a ala Snow White's stepmother, the boy is left in the woods to be eaten by wild animals. Of course that's not the case and each type of animal invites him to live with them. He chooses the right one and they help shelter him and treat him as family. Then the two-legged hunters come and the boy and his family are in peril. The conclusion to the story was rather like a fairy tale but beautiful and inspiring. It encourages people to take a second look at someone who seems cruel or mentally ill. Perhaps they may turn out to surprise you in the end.
The legends are similar to Aesop's Fables and Kipling's Just So Stories, even the African /enslaved African-American folktales about Br'er rabbit (the famous version originated with the Cherokee). They seek to explain something in the natural world.
"How the Birds Got Their Feathers" Buzzard couldn't decide which beautiful coat to wear when the creator was handing out feathers to birds. He ended up stuck with the ugly suit that didn't fit well but the story redeems buzzard and makes him a noble beast.
"Turtle Makes War on Man" is an interesting trickster story and also explains about turtle, skunk, and rattlesnake physical characteristics and habits.
"Chimpunk and Bear" this one was a little harder to figure out what the moral was supposed to be. It's a short story where the chipmunk and bear battle over the sunrise. The tale shows how chipmunk outwitted bear and got his stripes.
"Rabbit's Snow Dance" explains why rabbit has short legs, a split nose and stubby tail. It also explains why we see pussy willows in the early spring-they are a reminder of how rabbit made it snow and lost his tail.
The illustrations are stunning and not to be missed!
November 27, 2021
Fun reading for the entire family.
June 9, 2025
This was mid
August 5, 2016
The songs in several of these stories make them great real-alouds. It's a good book for any student who is a lover of Indian culture. They'd be good stories for doing a writing project with the creation-myth form.
July 23, 2020
I liked these authentic Iroquois animal tales. They are educational for kids and teens.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews