All the Stars in the Sky: Native Stories from the Heavens.

Anne Hutchings is a public-school teacher and librarian in Ajax,
Ontario.

Mohawk artist and storyteller C.J. Taylor tells and illustrates this collection of stories about the skyworld. A variety of North American tribal traditions are represented here, from the more well known Ojibwa and Blackfoot to the lesser known Wasco.

From “Little Mouse and the Magic Circles” to “Old Man Steals Sun’s Leggings” to “The Snow Goose,” these well-researched tales run the gamut of emotions from romantic to humorous to eerie. Some, like “Grandmother Spider Brings Light,” are pourquoi tales. Others, like “There They Live in Peace,” are instructional.

Each of the legends is illustrated with one of Taylor’s full-page paintings. With their deep, midnight blue backgrounds contrasted with flashes of brilliant red, yellow, orange, and green, these stunning illustrations enhance the tales tremendously.

This thematic collection ties in to several areas of the junior and intermediate curriculum: Native Peoples, folklore, and astronomy. It will provide young readers with many hours of reading and listening pleasure. It is to be hoped that it will also, as the author herself suggests in her afterword, “awaken … wonder in the glory in the glory of the night sky.” Highly recommended.