FROM:
Teresa Miller, Director, Center for Poets and Writers, OSU Tulsa
April / 2005

"The Grandmother Stories are eloquent, beautifully illustrated tales that recapture the imagination of Native America. Deborah L. Duvall and Murv Jacob have done a brilliant job of revisiting the mythic world of Rabbit, Bear, and Otter and introducing them to a contemporary audience. These characters are timeless, as are their stories, and readers of all ages will delight in their antics and unique insights."

FROM:
Robert J. Conley, author of Sequoyah, Cherokee Dragon, and other books
April / 2005

"Deborah Duvall and Murv Jacob have brought the old Cherokee animal tales back to life with their How Rabbit Lost his Tail and their other titles in this series from the University of New Mexico Press. The old tales, recorded previously in mostly pedantic prose for dusty scholars to peruse, have been rewritten by Duvall in lively and very readable English for young readers and old alike, and they are lavishly illustrated by Jacob. The tales involve Ji-stu, Rabbit, the Cherokee Trickster, who embodies all the characteristics of man: pride, arrogance, greed, deceit ("The path to the dance grounds followed the river that ran through the Cherokee lands. In some places where the river curved, the water formed deep pools that reflected the river bank above. Each time he passed such a pool, Ji-stu stopped just long enough to look at his reflection, for he was very proud.") He even occasionally shows courage.

You can't go wrong in picking up How Rabbit Lost His Tail or any of the other beautifully illustrated books in this series, for you will enjoy them, your children will marvel at them, and you may even learn something about Cherokee culture or about human behavior from reading them. Besides all that, they are delicious packages." —

FROM:
Joseph W. Bean, Maui Weekly
Accessed at: http://www.mauiweekly.com/bookreview/story1971.aspx
Thursday, June 15, 2006

"Stories carefully transmitted from traditional cultures can help us understand and appreciate the realities of life.

In the early 20th century, Frank Linderman gave us an English rendition of tales collected among Native Americans, published as Indian Why Stories. There have been plenty of attempts over the past 90-plus years to do more of the same. Until Deborah L. Duvall started writing books with Murv Jacob to illustrate them, no one came close.

Last summer, I read and reviewed their Rabbit and the Wolves. I loved it. Now I’ve read three more books in the series—Grandmother Stories—and they, too, are delightful.

These look like children’s books, but I urge you to give them a try even if you have no children in your household. The stories are thoughtful, clearly true to their traditional originals, thought-provoking and, best of all, wonderfully enjoyable. Each of the tales is its own book. I’m reviewing them together and recommending that you go “whole hog” by buying all three at the same time.

Rabbit and the Bears, if it were in the Linderman collection, might have been called “Why the Bears Look So Human.” Like all truly traditional stories, from Norse eddas to Hawaiian chanted histories, these Cherokee tales have layers and layers of meaning with lessons to teach at every depth. This one has echoes of Aesop’s “Ant and Grasshopper” fable, but only echoes as Bear eats and others gather, but Ji-Stu the Rabbit (our hero) lazes instead. The grander lesson being transmitted here is not concerned with the value of hard work.

Through many literary lenses, Ji-Stu and the rest of us learn that there is magic in being ourselves, being true to our own nature. A mistake in this area almost leads the little rabbit to kill himself, in fact.

Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting is many things, but it is not the story of a rabbit going duck hunting. As Rabbit and the Bears had a slight ring of Aesop, this story reminds us a little of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Ji-Stu likes to brag and embellish. The other animals like him anyway, and make allowances for his “style” and his trickery. So, when he really does have a grand adventure involving “hunting” the Chief of all the Wood Ducks and being hunted by humans, he doesn’t dare tell his story.

Ji-Stu, trickster that he is, understands that his tricky situation is his own fault. The story seems to end abruptly, but once you “get it,” you know it has ended perfectly.

The Opossum’s Tale, as an Indian why story, would be called “Why the Opossum’s Tail is Hairless.” Here, the friends of the opossum tire of his vanity and teach him a lesson that results in the hairless tail. For a moment, this is a great come-uppance for the opossum. Another friend steps in and teaches him what a prehensile tail is for—without ever saying such a fancy, grown-up word as “prehensile,” of course.

The Duvall-Jacob “Grandmother Story” series includes all the following titles: The Great Ball Game of the Birds and Animals (2002), How Medicine Came to the People (2003), How Rabbit Lost His Tail (2003), Rabbit and the Bears (2004), Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting (2004), Rabbit and the Wolves (2005), and The Opossum’s Tale (2005). Another Duvall-Jacob book has just been released. That one, not designated as a “Grandmother Story,” is Rabbit Plants the Forest.

This new book is called “A Cherokee World Story.” In it, we discover the way that wisdom of various kinds, called secrets, belong to different creatures who have the right to tell whom they will or to withhold the information. We also see that some have wisdom which we are responsible for passing along to those who need it. We also learn that different ones of us have different capabilities and skills.

As usual with these Cherokee tales, there are layers of meaning. As in all previous Duvall-Jacob books, here we are given a compelling story that will entertain children and adults alike.

This and other books by Deborah L. Duvall, illustrated by Murv Jacob, have won many awards and will certainly win others. Meantime, the books—awards or not—are excellent family reading material."

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