DePaola's softly rounded shapes and his hero's diminutive stature, downcast eyes, and sober mien breathe attitudes of acceptance, of quiet waiting, of diligent persistence. The humanity expressed in this story illustrates the value of perseverance, and of endurance of effort that will bring its reward. This book will inevitably be compared with The Legend of the Bluebonnet (Putnam, 1983), but the pivotal elements are very different. He creates at last his masterwork, and the next day the brushes have rooted and become the brilliant flowers we now call Indian Paintbrush. One night, a voice directs him to a special vantage point where he finds brushes filled with wonderful colors. But making paints to match the colors of the evening sky eludes him. As he grows up it is revealed to him in a vision that he will paint pictures of the glories of his tribe, that his own greatest work will someday be ``a picture that is as pure as the colors in the evening sky.'' As he grows older he does indeed paint the great deeds, the hunts, the visions of his tribe. The tribe's wise shaman assures him, however, that he has a different gift. K-Gr 4 Little Gopher was smaller than the other young Indian boys of his Plains tribe, and although he tried hard, he could not do what the others did. I would reccommend this book to second graders, or a teacher to do a read aloud with. I thought this was a good non-fiction book, that helps students learn where the name of the indian paintbrush came from, and helps you understand some of the Native American's history. I loved the bright colors, and the pictures really helped me visualize the story. I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. He told me it's not Star Wars or Harry Potter though. He said it wasn't too boring, were his actual words. The story moved along, but there were good details. This is also part of a series called Legends about the legend of how some things come to be this is the 3rd book I have read in that series. It's much better than Tomie usually does for his people. He found the canvas and spent years looking for the right colors After a dream, he does find the colors he needs to paint the sky. He was also told he would paint the colors of the sky and this would be his most important work. During his manhood ritual he was giving the task of painting the warriors hunt and the villages stories so they would always be remembered. There was an Indian who wanted to be a warrior like everyone else, but he had the gift of an artist. This is a legend/myth on how those flowers came to be there (and I do love a story or folktale about that.) Today, I learned that Indian Paintbrush is a wildflower on the hills in Wyoming.
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