Rabbit's Snow Dance: A Traditional Iroquois Story

The father-and-son storytelling team behind Raccoon's Last Race and Turtle's Race with Beaver return with their version of a traditional Iroquois tale. While the Bruchacs reach back hundreds of years for the source of their story, Newman's influences are comparatively modern--think Mary Blair with a touch of Hanna-Barbera. Set back when Rabbit had a "very long, beautiful tail," the story follows the selfish, impatient animal's attempts to conjure a massive midsummer snowstorm (rabbit's big snowshoe-like feet allow him to hop atop the snow and reach "tasty leaves and buds" more easily). His chanting and drumming do the trick, creating so much snow that it covers the treetops and causes difficulties for the small animals; the summer sun that rises the next day, however, brings about rabbit's comeuppance and costs him his tail. Rabbit and the other animals don't always look consistent from page to page, as though Newman couldn't quite settle on a style, but his paintings are nonetheless a welcome departure from the stodgier artwork that can often accompany myths and folk tales. Ages 3-5. (Nov.)

One summer, a bratty white rabbit longs to hop on snowbanks to reach high buds and leaves in the trees. He speeds through the forest, chanting the song he uses each winter to bring snow. Despite complaints by Chipmunk, Squirrel, Bear, Turtle, Beaver, and Moose, the frenzied song is soon accompanied by drum as Rabbit dances in a circle, "'EE-OOO!' Thump! Thump! 'EE-OOO!' Thump! Thump! 'Yo, Yo, Yo!'" Snow begins to fall quickly, and Rabbit doesn't stop until only treetops are visible. Exhausted, he takes a nap and continues to sleep even as the summer sun melts the snow. Finally awake, the mischief maker falls from the trees, each branch on the way down shredding clumps of his formerly long tail into pussy willows, leaving him only the tiny pom-pom. And that is how the rabbit's tail becomes a powder puff. The Bruchacs promise that Rabbit still loves the snow but has learned to be patient until winter. This modern retelling maintains their solid reputation for keeping Native American tales fresh. Newman's watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations are cheery, flourished cartoons in simple compositions.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA