2010 Maverick Award winner, 2011 Aesop Prize Winner – Children’s folklore section, and a 2011 Eisner Award Nominee.
All cultures have tales of the trickster – a crafty creature or being who uses cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. He disrupts the order of things, often humiliating others and sometimes himself. In Native American traditions, the trickster takes many forms, from coyote or rabbit to raccoon or raven. The first graphic anthology of Native American trickster tales, Trickster brings together Native American folklore and the world of comics.
In Trickster, 24 Native storytellers were paired with 24 comic artists, telling cultural tales from across America. Ranging from serious and dramatic to funny and sometimes downright fiendish, these tales bring tricksters back into popular culture.
Publishers Weekly
These 21 folktales, created by pairing Native storytellers with a variety of artists, feature creatures explaining how things came to be, like islands or stars, or animals playing tricks on one another. Often, the trickster, while trying to take the lazy way, outwits himself, especially when it involves Coyote. In other tales, Raven does whatever people tell him not to do, but ends up with a free meal anyway, and Rabbit tricks some buffalo and wolves and is tricked by Fox into losing his tail. Many of the stories, some of which involve tribespeople as well as animals, are told through captions, as though listening to an elder and envisioning the images he describes. Micah Farritor’s art in “Coyote and the Pebbles” and Dembicki’s in “Azban (Raccoon) and the Crayfish” are standouts in their animal images. The diverse styles are presented in lavish color in this thick, handsome volume. The short collection of contributor bios at the end is a helpful resource for finding more about the artist’s credits or the writer’s heritage. (June)
From the Publisher
This book would make an excellent edition to a Native American unit. — Get GraphicVigorously rendered in striking graphic format, this robust anthology of 21 Native American folktales features a bevy of wily rascals in a veritable smorgasbord of trickster tales… this unique collection of Native American folklore invites readers to sample and savor each colorful, wily tale.—Kirkus (starred review)
More than 40 storytellers and cartoonists have contributed to this original and provocative compendium of traditional folklore presented in authentic, colorful, and engaging sequential art... The total package is accessible, entertaining, educational, inspiring, and a must-have for all collections.—School Library Journal (starred review)
With stories that vary in emotional tone, matching the ever-shifting appearance and character of the trickster himself and the lessons he teaches and learns, this collection is an ideal choice for dipping into over and over. A dandy read for those interested in history, folklore, adventure, humor, or the arts, and a unique contribution to the form.—Booklist (starred review)
Kenan Metzger
A groundbreaking collection of engaging stories, Trickster is the first graphic anthology of Native American trickster tales. Twenty-one Native American storytellers worked closely with artists to create authentic retellings of traditional stories. Each story represents the cultural experiences of the storyteller, and the accompanying graphics are rich and colorful. Since current research shows graphic novels engage students' critical thinking through the synthesis of graphics and text, this book is ideal for increasing achievement in reading. The book contains a list of contributors and their cultural backgrounds, so students could study different Native American cultures and use this book to enhance their understanding of those cultures. Teachers could use this book to study folklore, establishing patterns and themes students find intriguing. From an ego-driven coyote to the hijinks of wildcat and the hilarity of rabbit's Choctaw tale, Trickster brings together Native American folklore and graphic novels for the first time. Reviewer: Kenan Metzger
School Library Journal
Gr 5 Up—More than 40 storytellers and cartoonists have contributed to this original and provocative compendium of traditional folklore presented in authentic, colorful, and engaging sequential art. The stories are drawn from a variety of Native peoples across North America, and so the trickster character appears variously as Rabbit, a raccoon, Coyote, and in other guises; landscapes, clothing and rhythms of speech and action also vary in keeping with distinct traditions. Realistic, impressionistic, painterly, and cartoon styles of art are employed to echo and announce the tone of each tale and telling style, making this a rich visual treasure as well as cultural trove. Contributors include well-known author Joseph Bruchac, Pueblo storyteller Eldrena Douma, cartoonist and Smithsonian Institution employee Evan Keeling, and many who have not worked in comics heretofore as well as cartoonists with no previous allegiance to telling Native stories with their art. The total package is accessible, entertaining, educational, inspiring, and a must-have for all collections.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Kirkus Reviews
Vigorously rendered in striking graphic format, this robust anthology of 21 Native American folktales features a bevy of wily rascals in a veritable smorgasbord of trickster tales. Told in the words of Native American storytellers from many nations, these tales use the trickster to teach moral lessons and explain such natural events as how the rabbit got its puffy tail, why the buzzard has no feathers on its head, why the owl guards burial sites or why geese fly in a V formation. Relying on cunning and craft to survive, outwit and amuse, the tricksters include coyote, raven, rabbit, raccoon, wolf, beaver and dog as well as human tricksters like Moshup, Ishjinki and Waynaboozhoo. Each tale is illustrated by a different artist in strikingly different styles, some comic and some realistic but all surprisingly suited to their stories, while the graphic sequencing provides action and emotional detail only suggested by the storyteller. Packaged in a chunky, square-shaped volume, this unique collection of Native American folklore invites readers to sample and savor each colorful, wily tale. (editor's notes, contributors' bios) (Graphic folklore. 10 & up)
Read More
