How the Indians Bought the Farm. This item is unavailable.How the Indians Bought the Farm

An Indian chief and his wise wife are not eager to hear the news that they had to move from their land and become farmers, so they devise a plan to cleverly outwit the gullible government man and, in the end, manage to stay right where they are.

A tongue-in-cheek, witty text with pictures that illustrate more than amplify how one ``great Indian chief and his great Indian wife'' triumph over a tricky government relocation policy. The government man tells a skins-clad native couple to leave their lands and move into a wooden house that stands near the wooden barn; the only catch is that they must raise sheep, pigs, and cows, and they haven't the funds to buy these animals. Still, they're gamely cooperative, and soon the wife (now in a white apron) waves her husband (now in bib overalls) off on a canoe trip down the great river to find livestock. He acquires a moose, a beaver, and a bear, in a hilarious, three-animals-in-a-canoe sequence. A week later, the animals have collected enough friends to join them on the farm so that when the government man comes to check compliance (bringing a thick stack of papers and several other officials), he is soon dispersed, leaving a paper trail behind him. ``Bought the farm'' is, of course, a gallows-humor euphemism for death, but the death of a former way of life turns out happily indeed, in a perfect read-aloud book. (Picture book. 5+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4^-8. In an original trickster story, the wild animals help the Indians outwit the white government officials. A great Indian chief and his great Indian wife have to leave their homeland and move to a farm. If they want to keep the farm, they are told they must raise sheep and pigs and cows, but they don't have money to buy animals. Instead, they bring friendly moose, beavers, and bears to their farm, and when the Great White Father comes back with soldiers, the animals help fool the whites and chase them away. Mora's folk art^-style nature scenes in predominantly blue, green, and brown watercolors pick up the laid-back humor of the story. There's droll slapstick as the huge animals crowd into the Indian's canoe and as they put the pompous officials to flight. Yet the irony is powerful: kids will get the sense of the Indians' displacement and their respect for the wild creatures they do not own. Hazel Rochman