Summary:
In this poignant story, the counting rope is a metaphor for the passage of time and for a boy's emerging confidence in facing his blindness.
My review:
I generally do not read a summary of a book until after I have actually read the book. I am glad I did not do that with this particular book because it gave me the element of surprise.
This book features two Native American Indians, an elder, and his grandson, sitting around a campfire. The elder begins telling the story of the young boys birth and growth, a story that the grandson has heard many times but wishes it to be told again.
As the story progresses, the tale gets more fantastic. The boy grows strong and faces obstacles of "the darkness" but overcomes them through the strength of his name and tenacity. The young boy has great reliance on his grandfather but his grandfather knows that his young grandson will make it on his own.
This story was simply beautiful and told how someone that may be born with a disability can still live a strong life and still do many things, just differently. I loved the meaning behind the counting rope!
The illustrations were done boldly and in darker muted colors to represent the blindness of the boy but also the telling of the story at night. The illustrations took up the majority of the pages with the telling of the story off to one side. Great addition!
I would encourage anyone to have this book for their own collections and to be in all classrooms. To make this even more fantastic, this book was also selected as a Reading Rainbow book and featured on that show.
5 stars and another knot on the rope!
Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon
Where to find the authors:
 |
| Unfortunately, author Bill Martin Jr. passed away in 2004. |
John Archambault-Amazon
Bill Martin Jr.-Goodreads
John Archambault-Goodreads
