HOW SNOWSHOE HARE RESCUED THE SUN

Retold from a Siberian tale included in James Riordan's The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon, a story incorporating the theme of a small animal completing a mission where his powerful neighbors have failed. When demons harpoon the sun and take it to their cavern, the animals elect Bear to retrieve it. But Bear stops to eat; then Wolf curls up to sleep in a den. Hare, however, finds the demons' underground hideout and escapes with the Sun, kicking it aloft just as the demons are about to catch him, so that it splinters and creates the moon and stars. This simple adaptation will make an effective readaloud; Durga Bernhard's powerfully structured art features bold forms in an array of colors she observed in winter from her Catskill studio- -to more decorative than realistic effect as deployed here, but arrestingly innovative. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-8)