The Thunder Egg

by Tim J. Myers, Winfield Coleman (Illustrator)

Overview

Stands-by-Herself lives with her grandmother in a buffalo-hide tipi among their Cheyenne people on the Great Plains. Other children make fun of her because she is always by herself dreaming. One day she finds a strange egg-shaped rock and senses there is something special about it. Taking it home, she cares for it as if it were a child, even though the other children mock her. When a terrible drought threatens to wipe out her people, could Stands-by-Herself’s rock hold the key to their survival? The Thunder Egg is the story of a girl’s coming of age, when she realizes that life can require us to think of others before ourselves and to follow what our hearts tell us. Featuring an author’s note, informative notes on the illustrations, and a bibliography, the book is filled with vibrant images of Plains Indian life in the unspoiled West. Carefully crafted text and paintings bring a true authenticity to the time, place, and people of the story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937786397
Publisher:	World Wisdom
Publication date:	07/07/2015
Pages:	28
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	NC600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tim J. Myers is an author of children’s and adult books who has published over ten books for children. Myers is also an artist, songwriter, and storyteller, as well as an educator in English and education at the university level. His book, Glad to Be Dad: A Call to Fatherhood won the inaugural Ben Franklin Digital Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association. He lives in Santa Clara, CA.

Winfield Coleman is an artist, writer, editor, lecturer, and ethnological researcher who has worked on books, museum catalogs, and research materials on native peoples from around the world. He devotes a great deal of time to assuring the historical accuracy of his illustrations, as his beautiful paintings for TheThunder Egg show. His work, American Indian Horse Masks (written by Ned and Jody Martin), received the prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award for excellence in art publishing. Coleman lives in San Francisco, CA.

Editorial Reviews

12/01/2015
K-Gr 3—In a thought-provoking story about what a person would give up to help others, Myers offers a story based partly on folklore traditions of various Plains tribes and partly on Myers's own imagination. Stands-by-Herself is different from her peer group, and her grandmother lets her know how proud she is of that fact. When the unnamed tribe (endnotes identify it as Cheyenne) goes through hardships due to drought, sickness, and lack of buffalo, Stands-by-Herself sacrifices what she thinks to be a thunder egg. The Thunderbird acknowledges this sacrifice and the people are given rain. Soft pastel watercolors add great detail to the story. The illustrations are further explained at the end of the book to provide readers with greater background information about the Cheyenne people and the time period before horses were introduced. VERDICT This is not a traditional tale but, rather, the author's own creation based on research. An additional purchase.—Amy Zembroski, Indian Community School, Franklin, WI

School Library Journal

2015-04-15
An original tale based in folklore about a Native American girl's willingness to help her people through the power of a mysterious stone. Set before horses were introduced to the Cheyennes, here is the story of Stands-by-Herself, a girl who lives with her grandmother and "her people on the great plains." True to her name, she is a solitary child, and the other children constantly tease her, causing her to wish she could "fly away with the ducks." In an attempt to soothe the girl, her grandmother references the Creator, assuring her that someday she will find the power to do good. Soon she comes across the titular artifact, which will send her down the foreshadowed path soon enough, as her people, come summer, are hungry, undergoing drought and sickness. The author builds an affecting story that centers on his Native American protagonist and her love for her people, though he never names that people within it. The soft, pastel-hued watercolor illustrations evoke the pre-Colonial Plains and its peoples; unusually detailed notes provide further information in the backmatter. In his afterword, Myers contextualizes his position as an outsider, his interest in the story, and its fictional content. Although Myers' research is evident, his omission of a specific tribe's and Creator's names within the story are problematic, as they reinforce a limited and monolithic view of Native Americans. Well-meaning but flawed. (bibliography) (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews