This book would be good for primary ages because it is a fairly easy book to read and it is simple to follow.
This book is an old Native American tale about how the raven became the black bird it is today and how the sun came to be in the sky.
The book could be used when teaching about Native American folklore or culture.

This is a retelling of a Tlingit Tale that tells of how Raven used to be white and how there was only darkness in the world. The Chief of the tribe is greedy and keeping the stars, sun and moon to himself. The cunning Raven comes up with a plan to trick the chief into releasing the treasures. Raven disguises himself as the Chief's grandson and releases each treasure. After releasing the stars, moon and sun, he decides to turn back into a Raven. When the Chief sees this he is furious and traps Raven in his home. Raven flies through the smoke hole in the ceiling and turns from white to back with soot in the process.
This is a beautiful story and would be perfect to use in a unit on myths. This book also includes a glossary of Tlingit words, photographs, and information on the Tlingit people. ( )

This is a retelling of a Tlingit tale about how Raven used to be white and there was only darkness in the world. The chief of a tribe has the Sun, Moon, and Stars in boxes because he wants them for himself. Raven tricks the chief into releasing them, then turns black while escaping. ( )

Clever Raven figures out how to trick the greedy Chief out of the celestial treasures he keeps to himself: the stars, moon, and sun. Raven disguises himself as the Chief's infant grandson and points to the boxes where the treasures are kept; Raven opens the boxes one after another and the stars, moon, and sun escape up into the sky. To escape the Chief's anger, Raven flies out through the smoke hole in the ceiling, turning from white to black in the process.

A gorgeous, nearly full-page painting in an air frame occupies the recto of each double page spread, with text on the verso; back matter includes information about Raven, a glossary of Tlingit words (but without a pronunciation guide), photographs, information on the Tlingit people, about the author, about the illustrator.

Tales of the People, Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. ( )

Genre- Multicultural, Legend
Age- P-I
This is such a good book; I was so excited to see it at the library, as I remembered reading the same one when I was younger. I was also delighted to see that this book was written and illustrated by American Indians! The author is Tlingit—which is where this version of the story comes from—and the illustrator is Apache and Pueblo. This book would be great in a unit about creation myths in many cultures, as it tells the story of how the sun came to be. It could also be used in a discussion about legends, as could any book in the Tales of the People series, to which this book belongs. The illustrations were engaging, and inspired by the artwork of the Tlingit people. The drawings of the sun, moon, and stars being released into the sky are especially stunning. Though some aspects of this book may be hard for a young child to understand (like the pregnancy and Raven’s transformations) it would still be very enjoyable in a classroom. The book contained several pages of factual information about the story and the tribe it’s from after the story was over, which could be an interesting follow-up to the story for students. This is a book that every classroom and library should contain, if only to make sure these old legends don’t disappear completely. ( )