Raven and Snipe

Susan Brown is a B.C. horticulturist, permaculture designer, and early
childhood education instructor.

This is the eighth in a series of resharings of West Coast Native myths
for children by Cameron, a popular non-Native B.C. writer.

Raven is a glutton. Raven wants some of Snipe’s food. In fact, Raven
wants all of Snipe’s food! Snipe cleverly uses the predictability of
Raven’s behavior to save her family’s stores from the gorging
guest—without breaking the rules of hospitality and respectful
demeanor.

In this short text, significant cultural values and information about
traditional foods are conveyed. The tight, simply worded sentences are
perfect for reading aloud to young audiences. Made-to-order
words—“snoffled” and “gorped” —invite dramatic emphasis of
Raven’s atrocious table manners. Hammond’s realistic line drawings,
opposite each page of text, further assist the storyteller.

A dignified and fun book in the best storytelling tradition, Raven and
Snipe could be read aloud to three- to nine-year-olds or read alone by
mid-elementary school students.