GLUSKABE AND THE FOUR WISHES

Gluskabe, a cultural hero of the Western Abenaki, is busy improving the world: ensuring fresh water for humans, making big animals smaller and therefore less dangerous. While resting on a far island, Gluskabe receives four visitors, each of whom wants one wish granted. One man wishes to live longer than anyone else, another to be the tallest man, a third to possess fine things, and the fourth to be a better hunter and thus better provider for his people. Gluskabe hands each man a pouch to be opened upon his return home; curiosity overwhelms the first three while the fourth gains tremendous insight. Bruchac wonderfully recrafts this traditional story; the lesson has a strong undercurrent of entertainment, vastly increasing its effectiveness. Shrader's oil paintings convey an appropriately dreamy sense of magic and timelessness. Rarely do the virtues of patience, humility, and generosity get such pleasurable handling. (Picture book. 4-8)