Ma' ii and Cousin Horned Toad: A Traditional Navajo Story

Begay, Shonto

ISBN 10: 0590453912 / ISBN 13: 9780590453912

Published by Scholastic, 1992

About this Item

Scholastic Inc., New York, 1992. Hardcover, 32 pp. Illustrated by the author. A retelling of a traditional Navajo storry introduces young readers to Ma'ii, the coyote known to the Navajo as a mischief maker, and his wise counterpart, the Horned Toad. Signed and inscribed by Shonto Begay to previous owner, on the title page. Fine conditiion. Seller Inventory # ABE-1577228882429

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ma' ii and Cousin Horned Toad: A Traditional...

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: 1992

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

A lazy, conniving coyote habitually takes advantage of his animal cousins until his cousin, Horned Toad, teaches him a lesson he never forgets.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-5-- Trickster coyote (Ma'ii) freeloads from his cousin Horned Toad, and rather than work off his debt, he ungratefully swallows the toad whole. Too late he realizes that he is a parasite's host himself. The latter half of the story details Ma'ii's unavailing efforts to eject toad (some of them quite painful to the coyote). Finally, toad wreaks havoc on Ma'ii's insides, then exits, leaving a coyote who never again bothers a horned toad. A note explains that the Navajo call the horned toad ``grandfather,'' and believe that it gives strength of heart and mind. Begay's light-spattered watercolors depict the animals relatively realistically, with expression but little anthropomorphism. Coyote is doglike rather than menacing or wily, but Horned Toad looks too much like an alien. (The pictograph on the title page is more successful.) The colors are soft but not washed out; as in Cohen's Mud Pony (Scholastic, 1988), also illustrated by Begay, the dappled pages suggest a mythic setting. The moral of this tale is a good one, although taught in a harsh lesson. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.