How Chipmunk Got His Stripes

Bruchac, Joseph, and James Bruchac. 2001. How Chipmunk Got His Stripes. Ill by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. New York: Dial Books. ISBN 0-8037-2404-7.

The fact that the father-and-son Bruchacs, who are both Abenaki, are used to telling stories out loud is evident in this spirited book. It retains the flavor and rhythm of an oral story and practically begs to be read out loud.

Chipmunk's legend, told by Native Americans of several different East Coast nations, involves a boastful bear who thinks he can stop the sun from rising and a small squirrel who calls him on his boast. Unfortunately, the squirrel can't resist teasing Bear when Bear turns out to be wrong, and the squirrel's narrow escape leaves him branded with stripes - turning him into Chipmunk.

With the themes of boasting and teasing, this story is bound to strike a chord with kids, and it's no wonder that James Bruchac says in the introduction that he's told the story to children "hundreds of times." The story's provenance is clearly explained in the authors' notes so that teachers and parents can be confident that it's an authentic Native American story rather than "fakelore."

The cartoon-style watercolor and ink illustrations are colorful and generally appealing, although I thought that the characters' facial expressions were consistently hard to read. Except for Bear's grumpy scowl and Chipmunk's wide-eyed fright, it's hard to tell what emotions the rest of the animals are meant to be showing (and in some cases, even hard to tell whether they're meant to be smiling or not).

Publisher's Weekly says, "The prose occasionally falters," but I didn't agree with this at all. PW's examples of faltering prose ("Everyone was happy except for one animal. That animal was Bear.") were invariably the times when I could most hear the voice of a storyteller telling the story out loud, and I wondered if the reviewer was judging by the standards of written rather than oral prose. PW also said "Aruego and Dewey(Antarctica Antics) create lush landscapes, but Bear and Brown Squirrel are uncharacteristically bland, often featuring the same facial expressions repeatedly."

In contrast, Grace Oliff, a reviewer in School Library Journal, called this book "...polished, cohesive, and energetic. While the story begs to be told, Aruego and Dewey's vibrantly hued trademark watercolors add significantly to the humor. A priority purchase for most collections."

And the Oyate review of this book says, "The Bruchacs’ rendition of this old story of how little Brown Squirrel becomes Chipmunk just jumps off the pages.... The youngest listeners will be begging to hear this one over and over."

Given what I saw as sub-par illustrations, and the wonderful oral quality of the story, I would definitely choose to read this story aloud, or possibly even memorize it so that I could tell it without the book. It would be great fun to invite kids to participate on the choruses of "The sun will not come up, hummph!" and "The sun is going to rise, oooh!"

Oliff, Grace. School Library Journal. Qtd. in Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/How-Chipmunk-Stripes-Picture-Puffins/dp/0142500216/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5676480-3776938?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184334751&sr=1-1.

Oyate. "Preschool and Up: From Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) and James Bruchac (Abenaki)." http://www.oyate.org/catalog/preschool.html.

Publishers Weekly. Qtd. in Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/How-Chipmunk-Stripes-Picture-Puffins/dp/0142500216/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5676480-3776938?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184334751&sr=1-1.