NL

Set in the mid-to-late 1800's, when the book opens, Little Rhody is a young girl about to turn 10 years old. In her family of 5 children, only 10th birthdays are celebrated with a party. She dearly hopes that this event will show her family that she has outgrown her "silly nickname" and is mature enough to be called by her proper name. But such is not to be, for the family moves from New York to Michigan before the party can occur. What follows is a lively story about her daily life and misdeeds as she strives to be seen as "more grown up." Such a delightful story, I read it through my college years, and now my children are enthralled with my simple retelling of the chapters.

Lopez heralds a message to our so-called "modern" Judeo-christian culture from the stone-age past: You can't separate the good from the bad. Coyote resembles nothing short of an agent of Bacchus, welding god-like powers of creation, with basal human desires and weaknesses.

In his anthology, Lopez has focused strictly on the Coyote of Native American lore, and thus has attempted to filter out most of the more modern interpretations and spin-offs, as well as removing any european influences. The observation that Lopez was not entirely successful in this effort shows the difficulty of such a task. The last story, "Coyote Finishes His Work", shows a distinctly "Euro-christian" influence. However, Lopez was at least successful enough to distinguish this piece from Bright's "Coyote Reader". Both are excellent works, and deserve your eye.

Of all the Coyote mythology collections I've read, this is the best. It features an assortment of styles from over 30 tribes, giving a broad sense of what the Coyote is. The author takes great pleasure in the introduction when he states that the greatest mistake is to generalize the Coyote, even to say he is a trickster is sometimes wrong. This book is just as if someone took all their favorite Coyote stories and put them in order (he starts the book at the creation of the Earth, and Man. Ending when "Coyote finishes his work.")

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Coyote.

I know this book is out of print and hard to find, but if you can let Amazon.com search it out for you, it is worth the effort. Lopez is at his best form in telling these stories of the coyote trickster. Some of the stories can best be described as ribald versions of the Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit stories. However, these are fresh stories that will engage your imagination and tickle your funny bone. I once entertained a group of young men with these stories one evening around a campfire...young men who thought they were too old to be read to. They laughed and wouldn't let me stop reading until my throat was hoarse. Find a copy if you can!

I was quite disappointed with the book. This is mostly a children's picture book, and is quite thin in size for it's price. Mainly a good book for story telling to children. Would not recommend for adults, and even hard core Expo's fans.