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A review by saidtheraina
Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection by Roy Boney Jr., Tim Tingle, Michael J. Auger, Megan Baehr, Joseph Stands With Many, Sunny Dooley, David Smith, Dan Jones, Jimm Goodtracks, Rand Arrington, Mike Short, Chris Piers, Dimi Macheras, Miah Farritor, Eirik Thorsgard, Michelle Silva, Matt Dembicki, Joseph Bruchac, Elaine Grinnell, Jonathan Perry, J. Chris Campbell, Andy Bennett, Beckee Garris, Jerry Carr, Andrew Cohen, Evan Keeling, Greg Rodgers, Jack Gladstone, Scott White, Jim8Ball, Thomas C. Cumming Jr., Jacob Warrenfeltz, Mary Eyley, Jason Copeland, Michael Thompson, Joyce Bear, Dayton Edmonds, Jon Sperry, Pat Lewis, John Bear Mitchell, Eldrena Douma, Paul Zdepski, James Bruchac, John Active
3.0
A collection of trickster tales from native tribes all over amerika.
I struggle with this one. On the one hand, it's a neat looking package. An awesome cover, glossy color images inside, with stories contributed by native americans and illustrations by comic artists. As an artifact, I think it's valuable in society.
But I'm not sure it's entirely effective. Many of the stories are extremely text heavy, and it's often hard to see the benefit the illustrations lend to the telling. Also, there's no extra information about where the stories come from, which areas of the country, what tribes, any kind of a context. There was one story set near Celilo Falls (on the Columbia River), and the dwellings were teepees. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I didn't think northwest native americans used teepees. And the afterward (which I think should have been a forward) said that the storytellers (natives) approved the illustrations, but why wouldn't they correct that? There's no extra information or analysis of the trickster tale as an entity, which I felt was lacking, given this rich collection of examples to draw from. I respect and appreciate the effort to invite the native writers to do the writing uninhibited, but the text didn't always lend itself well to the comic medium, which a good editor should have helped with. The editor said that he had a really hard time finding native americans willing to help with the project, so it felt like he became coordinator instead of true editor, and it suffers.
But still...
What did you think?
I wanted this to be a good fit for a graphic novel discussion group for tweens I'm (very slowly) developing, but I'm not sure the kids will enjoy reading it.
I struggle with this one. On the one hand, it's a neat looking package. An awesome cover, glossy color images inside, with stories contributed by native americans and illustrations by comic artists. As an artifact, I think it's valuable in society.
But I'm not sure it's entirely effective. Many of the stories are extremely text heavy, and it's often hard to see the benefit the illustrations lend to the telling. Also, there's no extra information about where the stories come from, which areas of the country, what tribes, any kind of a context. There was one story set near Celilo Falls (on the Columbia River), and the dwellings were teepees. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I didn't think northwest native americans used teepees. And the afterward (which I think should have been a forward) said that the storytellers (natives) approved the illustrations, but why wouldn't they correct that? There's no extra information or analysis of the trickster tale as an entity, which I felt was lacking, given this rich collection of examples to draw from. I respect and appreciate the effort to invite the native writers to do the writing uninhibited, but the text didn't always lend itself well to the comic medium, which a good editor should have helped with. The editor said that he had a really hard time finding native americans willing to help with the project, so it felt like he became coordinator instead of true editor, and it suffers.
But still...
What did you think?
I wanted this to be a good fit for a graphic novel discussion group for tweens I'm (very slowly) developing, but I'm not sure the kids will enjoy reading it.