Flood myths are common to folklore across nearly every culture and time. Such tales use a great flood to symbolise divine retribution, and also to allude to cleansing and rebirth: this metaphor is so intuitive and powerful that either water or a flood is still the prevalent literary metaphor for change to this very day. For these reasons, the tale of a great flood will interest young readers.
One particularly powerful and wise Great Flood myth comes to us by way of a group of Native American peoples, the Mvskoke (or Creek Nation), who originally lived in the woodlands of the southeastern United States. This tale is retold in a 40-page children's book, The Otter, the Spotted Frog and the Great Flood: A Creek Indian Story [Wisdom Tales, 2013; Amazon UK; Amazon US] written by Gerald Hausman and illustrated by Ramon Shiloh, whose mother, Sukuybtet, was Native American.
The starring roles in this story are animals -- Listener, a river otter; Honors Himself, a buffalo chief; and Spotted Frog, the prophet, who predicts that a Great Flood is coming. Unfortunately, all the animal people ignore Spotted Frog's warnings, except the aptly named Listener (who bears a striking resemblance to the biblical Noah).
Listener follows Spotted Frog's advice. He builds a raft that will keep him afloat, and anchors it to the tallest water oak tree in the woods with a hickory rope to keep it from floating away into the Forever. Meanwhile, all the other animal people manage to find time to stop by to mock Listener -- until the flood waters came.
The storytelling is simple, unfolding mainly through dialogue between the main characters, but the writing ... ahhh! The writing itself is luscious. For example:
The bird people, who had nothing left to hang on to, hooked their claws into the bright dome of the sky. Holding on, upside down, the waters soaked the birds' tails. The colors ran together so that Hawk's brown tail turned red and Turkey's dark tail tip turned foam-white. And these are the colors they have today. [Hausman, 2013, p. 22.]
Sadly, after the flood waters subside, Listener finds himself "alone in the mud of the new world" (p. 24) -- or is he? Companionship -- and hope -- appears unexpectedly in the form of Mosquito Woman. Then, through a sequence of whimsical and beautifully described events, First Woman and First Man appear.
In addition to the exquisite prose, I was impressed by Ramon Shiloh's evocative artwork: it's colourful, realistic, minimalistic, and at the same time, it retains a strong "Native American" influence. Many of the illustrations are either contained within a circle (as you can see on the cover art) or somehow incorporate a circle into the overall design. I'd tell you which illustrations are my favourites, but seriously, I love them all. In fact, the entire book -- the storytelling, the prose and the illustrations -- is a work of art.
That said, I do have a complaint -- just one: the chief, known as Honors Himself, is referred to as a "buffalo" when in fact, this is incorrect. "Bison" is the correct name for these New World animals, which differ dramatically in just about every way that they can from Old World buffalo.
Strictly speaking, this is not a children's science book. However, it conveys several important messages: first, the value of listening to what the environment is telling us and the inherent value to be found in protecting the natural world. In view of global warming and increasing pressures upon natural spaces from snowballing human populations, this message is more important than ever. Second, this myth is a story of profound optimism in the face of adversity, chronicling "progress from a lower world to a higher one" where "there is light, and the possibility for greater and more abundant life." (p. 38.)
Written for children between 4 and 8 years of age, this refreshing book will be enjoyed by new readers and by writers looking to reinvigorate their prose. Further, this ancient myth can serve as a valuable starting point for initiating classroom discussions with young children on a variety of critical and timely topics.
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Disclaimer: This review is based on an uncorrected advanced PDF e-galley released through NetGalley and read using bluefire reader. GrrlScientist has no known connection to the book's author or illustrator. No compensation in any form was received by either GrrlScientist or the Guardian for this review. All images appear here by courtesy of the publisher.
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Gerald Hausman is a storyteller and award-winning author of more than 70 books about Native America, animals, mythology, and West Indian culture. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he up in New Jersey and Massachusetts before moving to New Mexico, where he remained for more than 20 years. He currently resides on Pine Island, Florida.
Ramon Shiloh is an author and illustrator who was born in Northern California. He has produced and directed planetarium shows for the Minolta Planetarium in Cupertino California, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center at Balboa Park in San Diego and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. He currently resides in Seattle.
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