The First Strawberries

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1993. The first strawberries: A Cherokee story. Retold by Joseph Bruchac. Ill by Anna Vojtech. Dial Books for Young Readers: New York. ISBN 0803713320.

PLOT SUMMARY:
One day a man comes home tired from work and finds his wife does not have dinner ready for him. This folktale tells of the story of an argument between husband and wife. The sun tries to remedy the situation by creating raspberries, blueberries and blackberries to capture her attention and stop her from walking away from her husband and marriage. None of the berries interest the wife, until the sun places a patch of sweet strawberries in her path. Her husband is then able to catch up to her to apologize.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This picture book is full of double and single page spread artwork. Simple clean lines depict the simple beauty of the Native American life. The illustrator uses watercolors and colored pencils to create full page scenes to enhance the storyline. Skin tone, facial features, clothing, home and hair style are cultural markers found in the illustrations. Both the man and woman have long dark hair. The woman’s hair is divided into two long plaits. Their home is thatched or woven grass with wooden branched poles on the outside of the round shaped dwelling. The general environment is one of a natural paradise.

The text is interesting and begins with “Long ago when the world was new, the Creator made a man and a woman. The two of them were made at the same time so that neither would be lonesome. They married, and for a long time they lived together and were happy.” The mention of a Creator indicates religion and marriage a religious practice. There is no identification of a specific culture in the text, no language patterns or dialects. The story itself is rich in meaning and tells the story of forgiveness and to remember to see each other as nature’s gifts, like the flowers picked by the woman and the berries sent by the sun.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S):

Review from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “A gentle story of the Sun's healing of marital discord by a gift of ripe strawberries that magically grow at the feet of an angry woman as she flees her husband's harsh words, thus halting her departure long enough for him to catch up and make amends. Thereafter, the story concludes, whenever the Cherokee eat strawberries, they are reminded to be kind to one another. Quietly luminous watercolors capture details of dress, dwelling, implements, flora, and fauna against an open landscape of rolling hills. Small touches dramatize the story's moods: a bouquet of brown-eyed Susans flung to the ground in anger; an empty nest in a pine tree as the woman disappears behind the western hills; the glimmer of a single firefly as man and wife are reconciled. Complete harmony of text and pictures: altogether lovely.”

Review from BOOKLIST: “At the beginning of the world, a man and a woman marry and live happily together until, one day, the wife picks flowers instead of preparing dinner. Stung by her husband's anger and his coldness, the woman vows to leave him and swiftly walks away. He cannot catch up with her, so the remorseful man enlists the help of the sun, which magically makes first raspberries, then blueberries, then blackberries spring up beside her path. But only when a carpet of strawberries appears before her does she stop, pick, and eat. Their sweetness leads her to forgive her husband, and they are reunited.

This Cherokee tale explains the origin of strawberries and reminds us "that friendship and respect are as sweet as the taste of ripe, red berries." Told simply and directly, the tale reads well. The artwork, combining watercolors with color pencils, celebrates the natural world simplified, softened, and sunlit. A delectable choice for reading aloud, with or without a basketful of wild strawberries to pass around.”

Review from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: “Bruchac ( Keepers of the Earth ; Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back ) once again brings simplicity and lyricism to his interpretation of Native American legend. The Cherokee tale told here explains the origin of various berries and, in the process, presents an unspoken but powerful case for respecting one another and the earth. The first man and woman live in harmony, until one day the man speaks in anger and the woman leaves him, walking so fast he cannot catch her.

Regretting his outburst, he appeals to the sun, who agrees to help by slowing the woman's pace--creating in her path raspberries, then blueberries, blackberries and, finally, strawberries, which ``glow like fire in the grass.'' Stopping to taste one, the woman finds that its sweetness ``reminds her of how happy she and her husband had been together,'' and she decides to share the fruit with her husband. Spare text, an uncomplicated story line and gentle illustrations keep this quiet but resonant tale accessible to even the youngest child. Vojtech's soft, luminous watercolors conjure up an unspoiled landscape bathed in sunlight--visual reinforcement of the idea that the earth and its wonders are indeed gifts.”

CONNECTIONS
Activities
* Use for lessons on identifying plot, theme, setting, characters.
* Discuss folktales and traditional stories and why they are located in the nonfiction section.

*Use as storyline for puppet show or Readers Theatre, complete with narrator/sun.