Found It! It was a Joseph Bruchac Book!

My older son was coming home from homeschool wilderness school saying the Native American stories his teacher was reading aloud at lunch time were great. The teacher then left the program. I asked the other instructors and the Director what the book was and no one knew.

Older son said that the cover had a big eagle on it with a Native American Indian riding on it.

I feel that Joseph Bruchac is a great storyteller. He focuses on the history and stories of Native Americans. I first learned of Bruchac when I stumbled upon one of his books at a used book shop. It hen learned (via Amazon) that he has a whole series of books on Native American stories and also books for teachers to use as curriculum to teach classes about Native American ways of life.

I put some of Bruchac’s books on my PaperBackSwap (PBS) wish list and patiently waited. I recently received “Native American Animal Stories” by Joesph Bruchac in the mail for a PBS swap. Lo and behold the cover illustration matches my son’s description. I just asked him if this is the book and he said yes. He is thrilled and is asking me to read him some stories aloud now.


One more thing I can share is that the large books such as”Keepers of the Animals” are intended to give lots of information to use while working with children including stories to read aloud on that topic (plants, animals, etc.). There are also ‘teacher’s manuals’ that go above and beyond those “Keepers” books. If you are starting off and want just stories you can go with the ‘storeies’ books—because the books of stories are excerpted from the larger and more expensive “Keepers” books. If you want even more info to teach from or learn from, try one “Keepers” books. If you feel the need to go deeper and farther, then go for the teacher’s manual.

Here are the titles I’m specifically talking about. I know he has published also picture books and ‘chapter books’ for young readers. I may have missed some in the series.

Keepers series (full color covers, full retail $16.95 to 19.95)

Keepers of the Night: Native American Stories and Nocturnal Activities for Children

Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children

Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children

Keepers of Life: Discovering Plants Through Native American Stories and Earth Activities for Children



Stories series (just stories, taken from the Keepers books, full retail $14.95)

Native American Stories

Native American Animal Stories

Native Plant Stories



Teacher’s Guides (have black and white covers, full retail $19.95)

Keepers of the Earth (Teacher’s Guide)

Keepers of the Animals (Teacher’s Guide)

Keepers of Life (Teacher’s Guide, this one is about plants)



Links

Joseph Bruchac’s official website

Joseph Bruchac’s Biography

Interview with Joseph Bruchac, talking about storytelling and also poetry

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