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teaching--Activity programs--Juvenile literature;Massachusetts--History--New Plymouth, 1620-1691--Study and teaching--Activity programs--Juvenileliterature. 24 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 26 cm.Grades K-2. Rating : 4.The story of the Pilgrims and the NativeAmericans they met are expertly woven into thisbook of hands-on projects. Pilgrims and NativeAmericans is part of the Great Social StudiesProjects series. The book is illustrated withphotographs depicting the craft projects. Thebook would be useful for teachers and homeschooling parents who are looking forThanksgiving craft projects.Ten little rabbits / by Virginia Grossman ;illustrated by Sylvia Long. LCCN90002011. San Francisco : ChronicleBooks, 1991.PAP, 0811810577, list price: $6.95.E or 394/.08997. Indians of North America--Sociallife and customs--Juvenile literature; Counting-outrhymes--Juvenile literature; Indians of North America--Social life and customs; Counting. 1 v. (unpaged) :col. ill. ; 24 cm.Grades PS-1. Rating : 3.Ten Little Rabbits is a counting book usingcultural information from ten different NativeAmerican tribes. Each two-page spreadcontains something to count, illustrated withdetails from the native tribe. Author VirginiaGrossman includes back matter which explainsthe portion of the tribal culture shown.Illustrator Sylvia Long chose to use rabbits inplace of people as Native Americans; someNatives are offended by this. For the numbertwo, Tewa rain dancers are portrayed; Christiannatives have objected to these illustrations. It isa cute book, but I wouldn’t consider purchasingit unless you have no Native Americans amongyour patrons.Touching the distance : Native Americanriddle-poems / Brian Swann ; illustratedby Maria Rendon. LCCN 96039354. SanDiego : Browndeer Press, 1998.HBB, 0152008047, list price: $16.811/.54. Indian riddles--Juvenile poetry; Children’spoetry, American; American poetry; Indian riddles;Riddles. 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 27 cm.Grades 1-3. Rating : 3.Touching the Distance is a book of NativeAmerican riddles. Written in free verse form,each page is a description. Answers andindication of which tribe the riddle is associatedwith are found in the back of the book. MariaRendon illustrated the book using mixed-mediaconstructions. The book would have been moreeffective if more information had been includedabout the tribes.Wolf stories : myths and true-life talesfrom around the world / Susan Strauss,storyteller ; Gary Lund, illustrator.LCCN 93018382. Hillsboro, Ore. :Beyond Words Publishing, 1993.HBB, 0941831841, list price: $11.95.398.24/52974442. Wolves--Folklore; Tales. 64 p. :col. ill. ; 20 cm.Grades 3-5. Rating : 3.In Wolf Stories, Susan Strauss has collectedstories about wolves from around the world.Folktales from Japan, Persia, Norway, andRussia are included, as are real-life stories aboutwolves. One of the myths included is from theLakota Sioux and another is from the SkidiPawnee. These two myths tell a little of thosetribes beliefs about wolves. The black and whitesketches of Gary Lund are accented with purpleLAKOTA SIOUXShota and the star quilt / written byMargaret Bateson-Hill ; illustrated byChristine Fowler ; Lakota text byPhilomine Lakota. LCCN 98026678. NewYork : Zero to Ten, 2001.PAP, 1840890231, list price: $7.95.497/.5. Lakota dialect--Texts. 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill.; 30 cm.Grades 2-4. Rating : 4.Shota and the Star Quilt is a bi-lingual book.Philomine Lakota translated the text intoLakota. Shota is a Lakota girl whose family hasmoved to the city. The man who owns theapartment building where she lives wants to teardown the building. While Shota and her bestfriend Esther are visiting Shota’s grandmotheron the reservation, they work on a traditionalStar Quilt. After they return home, the girlsdecide to give the quilt to the landowner, a movewhich causes the man to change his mind.When he was young, his mother had sung to hima song with the words, “Find the star that’s a giftfrom the skies. In its patchwork of light truehappiness lies.” The full color illustrations ofChristine Fowler are done in an Early AmericanPrimitive style.NAVAJOAshkii’s journey / written and illustratedby Verna Clinton ; Navajo editing, ElavinaPerkins ; English editing, Jerrold T.Johnson. LCCN 2001006345. Flagstaff,Ariz. : Salina’s Bookshelf, 2001.HBB, 1893354318, list price: $17.95.Fic. Navajo Indians--Juvenile fiction; Navajo Indians--Fiction; Indians of North America--Southwest, New--Fiction; Coming of age--Fiction. 1 v. (unpaged) : col.ill. ; 30 cm.Grades 3-5. Rating : 4.Ashkii’s Journey is the story of an orphanNavajo boy’s life as he lives near his demandingaunt and evil cousins. While this is not a storyof the Navajo Long Walk, Ashkii does recall hisgrandfather’s stories of that period. Most, butnot all, Navajo words are defined within the text.Navajo culture and history are shown in thestory.Ashkii’s Journey is a picture storybook writtenand illustrated by Navajo Vera Clinton. There isa lot of text on each page which is why Idesignated this for older elementary students. Afull page color illustration is opposite almostevery page of text. The illustrations are similarto that of other Navajo artists, while they dohave some perspective (farther items aresmaller) the pictures seem to lack depth.OJIBEWAA portrait of Spotted Deer’s grandfather /Amy Littlesugar ; illustrated by MarlowedeChristopher. LCCN 96002704. MortonGrove, Ill. : Albert Whitman, 1997.HBB, 0807566225, list price: $15.95.Fic. Catlin, George, 1796-1872--Juvenile fiction;Catlin, George, 1796-1872--Fiction; Indians of NorthAmerica--Juvenile fiction; Indians of North America--Fiction; Artists--Fiction. 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 26cm.Grades K-2. Rating : 4.In the 1800’s, George Catlin traveled theAmerican West painting and drawing portraitsand pictures. Author Amy Littlesugar based thisstory on one of his visits to a Chippewa village.One of the elders of the village is not sure abouthaving his face put on a canvas. His grandsonconvinces him that it is a good idea. MarlowedeChristopher used oils to illustrate the text. Hisillustrations complement the text and accuratelyportray Native American life.Jane Mouttet worked for twenty years as a schoollibrarian on the Navajo Reservation. She wouldenjoy hearing from you on how these columnshave helped you and on how you use children’sliterature to teach Native American Culture.Jane can be reached atjane@nativeamericanchildrenslit.com.D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 4 C H R I S T I A N L I B R A R Y J O U R N A L
Jack – Who Built the Land of Narniaby Donna W. BowlingMany consider Clive Staples Lewis one ofthe most influential religious writers of thetwentieth century. In their book, 100Christian Books That Changed the Century,William and Randy Petersen included threevery different titles by C.S. Lewis. Onlyone other author [Catherine Marshall] had asmany as two separate books listed. One titleby C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia(1950-1956), has been discussed in previousissues of Christian Library Journal.Like the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis’s TheScrewtape Letters (1942) is also included inChristianity Today’s listing of “Books of theCentury.” This perceptive satire features theadvice of a senior demon, Screwtape, as hecounsels his nephew Wormwood, on waysthe young demon could profitably tempt his“patient” away from their Enemy and Hiswill. After many requests for a sequel,Lewis wrote his short “Screwtape Proposesa Toast” (1959), set at an imaginary “annualdinner of the Tempters’ Training College foryoung Devils.”The third Lewis title in the Petersen list,Mere Christianity (1952), appears at the topof the Christianity Today list and also in theWorld list of “The Century’s Top 100Books,” compiled by Veith and Olasky.Mere Christianity brings together a slightlyedited version of his four series of radioaddresses on religious topics that werebroadcast on BBC during World War II.These were originally published in threeseparate collections: Broadcast Talks (1942),Christian Behaviour (1943), and BeyondPersonality (1944). By “mere Christianity”Lewis means key elements of the Christianfaith that all believers agree on. Hedeliberately avoids areas of partisan“denominational” disagreement. He seeks todispel false concepts about the nature ofGod, while at the same time indicating theappropriate response that believers shouldmake in their daily lives.By 1949, C.S. Lewis had already made suchsignificant contributions on the religiousscene that Chad Walsh published the firstbook about the impact of C.S. Lewis:Apostle to the Skeptics. (Much of Lewis’simaginative and scholarly work was still inthe planning stage at that time.) Lewisreceived many requests inquiring intofactors that had contributed to hisconversion from atheism to Christianity.Although his fictional The Pilgrim’s Regress,originally published in 1933, was largely anautobiographical allegory, Lewis began workon an additional book in response to thoserequests.*Surprised by joy : the shape of my earlylife / C.S. Lewis. LCCN 56005329. NewYork : Harcourt Brace, 1995, c1955.HBB, 0151001855, list price: $17.00.B or 823/.912. Lewis, C.S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963--Childhood and youth; Christian biography--England; Anglican converts--England--Biography;Authors, English--20th century--Biography. x, 230 p.; 21 cm.Adult. Rating : *5.C.S. Lewis states in the preface to Surprised byJoy that the book “aims at telling the story of myconversion and is not a general autobiography.”In the first chapter he describes a recurringexperience; “it is that of an unsatisfied desirewhich is itself more desirable than any othersatisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here atechnical term and must be sharplydistinguished both from Happiness and fromPleasure.” This experience of a stab, a pang, oflonging is sometimes referred to as “sehnsucht.”Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, innorthern Ireland, in 1898. His father was anattorney and his mother the university-educateddaughter of a clergyman. Their home was filledwith books of all kinds. From early childhood,C.S. Lewis preferred to be called “Jack.” Hehad one brother, Warren, (or “Warnie”), aboutthree years older than he. The brothers werealways close, but especially so after thedevastating death of their mother by cancer in1908. They spent much time together, ofteninventing imaginary worlds—writing histories,and drawing maps and related illustrations. Itwas a small imaginary garden made by Warrenthat first prompted a response of “Joy” in theyounger brother.After learning to read and write at home, withsome grounding in French and Latin from hismother, C.S. Lewis was sent to boarding schoolin England, an experience that he likened to aconcentration camp. He missed his privacy, andhe detested the mandatory sports and thesometimes brutal class system. (Some readersmight be concerned by his discussion of moralproblems in the boarding school situation.) Butduring that time he also learned to appreciate theatmosphere of the legends of the North. In histeen years, both his study of world mythologies,and his disappointment in his own earlierreligious attempts, contributed to his great reliefin adopting atheism with its lack of rigidrestraints. After several unhappy schoolexperiences he was sent to study with a personaltutor where he thrived. When one day herandomly picked up a copy of GeorgeMacdonald’s Phantastes (1858), its impact onhim was to “baptize” his imagination.Young Lewis had a few months in OxfordUniversity before he became eligible for servicein World War I. He served for some time as ajunior officer in the trenches in France before hewas wounded by friendly fire and hospitalizedfor months. Even in wartime he continued toread and write, mostly poetry, as circumstancesallowed. After his recovery and discharge fromthe army, he returned to Oxford, where he tookdegrees in Classics, then in “Greats” and finallyin English. He served as a tutor for one year inPhilosophy, but then he was elected to afellowship in English in Oxford’s MagdalenCollege, a position he held for many years.There he became friends with J.R.R. Tolkienand other Christians whose influencecontributed to his conversion, initially to theismonly. Driven by his intellectual honesty toacknowledge God, he then described himself as“the most dejected and reluctant convert in allEngland.” As he learned more about God in thefollowing months he finally recognized theclaims of Jesus Christ and became a committedChristian. During this time Lewis realized thatto focus on looking for Joy is not only futile, butalso counterproductive. This experience oflonging occurs only as a by-product of a focuson something “other, outside.” In fact, thefunction of Joy is primarily to point seekers tothe only real and lasting source of satisfaction inGod Himself.Although this narrative ends with the conversionof C.S. Lewis in 1931, more than thirty yearsbefore his death, it is a key resource for librarieswith scholarly, theological, or fictional works byLewis. For the same reason, this book is alsofrequently cited in the titles discussed below.Very readable and easily accessible to highschool readers, it is highly recommended forchurch, school, public, and home libraries.C H R I S T I A N L I B R A R Y J O U R N A L 5 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5
Page 1: ChristianVolume X, No.4December 200
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Page 14 and 15: BOOK REVIEWSCHILDREN’S FICTION*Aa
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Page 38: INDEXMorris, Robert 31Mowll, Benjam

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