Bibliography:
Tingle, Tim. 2007. WHEN TURTLE GREW FEATHERS. Ill. by Stacey Schuett. Atlanta, GA: August House. ISBN 978-0-87483-777-3.
Plot Summary:
When Turtle Grew Feathers is a variation of the tortoise and the hare story from the Choctaw perspective. The story begins with turtle and turkey becoming friends when turkey helps turtle mend his broken shell. Turtle offers turkey to try his shell on to see what he thinks of turtles home. Suddenly rabbit comes bounding by and challenges who he thinks is turtle to a race around the lake. Turtle, without his shell, is hiding while turkey decides to race rabbit even though he's in turtles shell.
Critical Analysis:
There are many variations to the story of the a hare challenging a tortoise to a race and When Turtle Grew Feathers is a cleaver and amusing variation to the story. As much as I love this story, if I had not read this book was based on a Choctaw story I do not think I would ever have realized it's a Choctaw Native American story commonly told to children. There are not any references to it being a Native American story until the second to the last line, "Chata hapitia hoke!" which means "Now the story is yours." The illustrations do not give any indication either as the illustrations are beautiful and colorful but zero reference to Oklahoma, where the Choctaw nation resides, or anything Native American. If the sources had not been listed, the synopsis mentioning Choctaw and reading about the author being Choctaw, I would have thought it was just another clever variation of the tortoise and hare story.
Being that the story is about animals alone there cannot be any reference to Native American people in particular. I think it would have been wonderful of the illustrator to research the Choctaw people and where they lived and incorporate some of their history into the background illustrations.
What I do love about this story is that it's a wonderful way to open the lines of communication about bullying which is exactly what rabbit does to "turtle," even though it's really turkey. Rabbit is not nice at all as he wants to race, "I feel real fast! I'm ready to race. Who wants a little mud in his face?" This kind of talk is not kind, it's a form of bullying and something that can be discussed with children.
When Turtle Grew Feathers is a variation of the tortoise and the hare story from the Choctaw perspective. The story begins with turtle and turkey becoming friends when turkey helps turtle mend his broken shell. Turtle offers turkey to try his shell on to see what he thinks of turtles home. Suddenly rabbit comes bounding by and challenges who he thinks is turtle to a race around the lake. Turtle, without his shell, is hiding while turkey decides to race rabbit even though he's in turtles shell.
Critical Analysis:
There are many variations to the story of the a hare challenging a tortoise to a race and When Turtle Grew Feathers is a cleaver and amusing variation to the story. As much as I love this story, if I had not read this book was based on a Choctaw story I do not think I would ever have realized it's a Choctaw Native American story commonly told to children. There are not any references to it being a Native American story until the second to the last line, "Chata hapitia hoke!" which means "Now the story is yours." The illustrations do not give any indication either as the illustrations are beautiful and colorful but zero reference to Oklahoma, where the Choctaw nation resides, or anything Native American. If the sources had not been listed, the synopsis mentioning Choctaw and reading about the author being Choctaw, I would have thought it was just another clever variation of the tortoise and hare story.
Being that the story is about animals alone there cannot be any reference to Native American people in particular. I think it would have been wonderful of the illustrator to research the Choctaw people and where they lived and incorporate some of their history into the background illustrations.
What I do love about this story is that it's a wonderful way to open the lines of communication about bullying which is exactly what rabbit does to "turtle," even though it's really turkey. Rabbit is not nice at all as he wants to race, "I feel real fast! I'm ready to race. Who wants a little mud in his face?" This kind of talk is not kind, it's a form of bullying and something that can be discussed with children.
Review Awards and Excerpts:
"Variations of the race between the tortoise and the hare crop up regularly, but this version, retold as a trickster tale, stands out for its humor and expressive illustrations. " - School Library Journal
BOTYA 2007 Finalist
Connections:
- This story is about a rabbit that bullies a turtle into racing him. The rabbit knows the turtle is slower than he is and takes advantage of that. This is a wonderful opportunity to discuss with children what being a bully is and when it's wrong to challenge someone to something when you know their weaknesses. Teaching children to not take advantage of others to make themselves feel better is a valuable lesson that has to be taught and using books such as this one is a great opportunity to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment