So Sings the Blue Deer - Hardcover

Mcgee, Charmayne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068931888X ISBN 13: 9780689318887

Publisher: Atheneum, 1994

Synopsis

A thirteen-year-old Huichol Indian boy is chosen to bring back a herd of white-tail deer, essential to re-establish the natural population on Huichol land

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-Believing that the absence of the white-tailed deer has thrown off the balance of nature in the Sierra Madre Mountains and kept the Huichol Indians from performing their necessary ceremonial rituals to restore that balance, a group of Indians travels to Mexico City. Their mission is to obtain 20 deer offered by the government and take them back to their homeland. Moon Feather is the youngest of the pilgrims, and while he's apprehensive about the journey, he is anxious to do well on his assignment. The trip is filled with new sights and experiences, and an overwhelming dismay that people have so despoiled the environment and ignored the guidance of the gods. The book is filled with ecological observations in contrast to the spiritual musings of the Huichol. However, McGee's attempts to educate readers about the religion and lifestyle often border on the preachy and intrude upon the flow of the narrative in both descriptive passages and dialogue. Moon Feather's naivete about civilization is somewhat understandable, but since there are references to news from the outside world and radios, it seems strange that he would ride easily on a bus but not know what a television is. The return journey is interrupted by a brief and unexpected moment of betrayal, but somehow the low-keyed telling never seems to take on a feeling of danger or urgency. Based on a true story, the book features a setting and a people not often found in children's books, which may gain some attention for it.
Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library, WI
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Isolated in the mountains of Mexico, the Huicholes work ``to maintain the balance of nature--to be kind to the earth, and make the earth well.'' But without the white-tailed deer they can ``no longer perform the ceremonial rituals that perpetuated life and rejuvenated nature''; ``The end of the world'' looms as a result of the polluting and plundering of earth's resources. When the National Indigenous Institute offers the Huicholes deer to rebuild the population, the men walk hundreds of miles to Mexico City to claim them. Moon Feather, only 13 but already destined to be a Grand Shaman, is with them. His admiration for the Aztecs hasn't prepared him for the disappointingly crowded, noisy city; but after the difficult trip home (a puma attacks the deer and the trip leader's betrayal is revealed), he begins to sense the Huicholes' purpose in guarding and transmitting their culture and realizes that he wants to complete his education in order to help his people. A timely (since the uprising in Chiapas) and sympathetic first novel, based on a real event. Unfortunately, most readers will find the measured pace and detailed descriptions daunting. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 068931888X
• ISBN 13: 9780689318887
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160