Eagle's Reflection and Other Northwest Coast Stories

Kelly L. Green is editor of the Canadian Book Review Annual’s
Children’s Literature edition.

This book contains 19 one- and two-page stories based on nature legends
from the Native peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Each story is
accompanied by a striking black, white, and red illustration (drawn from
Native designs) of the story’s subject (heron, eagle, bear, etc.).
Most of the brief stories tell how an animal or human came to experience
a significant change, such as how Raven transformed a lonely man who had
abandoned his family into Loon, with his mournful cry, or how Orca
escaped a pond built of stones where she was imprisoned and now races
through the sea creating huge waves with the power to crush stones into
sand so that she can never again be captured, or how Wolf sacrificed
himself for his human brothers and now mourns the loss of their
community with his howl.

The stories, though generally well written, are uneven in quality. Some
are well-told vignettes with subtle psychological insights, while others
are so didactic and filled with messages about valuing nature, family,
and community that they virtually club the reader over the head.
Unfortunately, the latter outnumber the former, hence this book is
recommended with reservations.