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I read Manybooks review (it's a review worth reading - it's very good!) about this book before I did my review. She really made me think - a lot. I admit to not knowing who Gerald really was or much about the Raven history in stories. I was going to give it 4 stars and after reading Manybooks, I don't think I can for now. I had to take a star. I do feel it's a good story and the artwork is beautiful and stylized.

Is this cultural appropriation? Gerald is an amazing artist, could he not find someone from a Native tribe to tell this story with him as it's their story. Then again, do myths really belong to the culture they were written in, or are they the property of the world?? I'm not really Greek and I love the Greek myths. We can all learn from the myths, right. I love myths from all over the world. I'm really getting into Chinese myths right now. Still, if the minority race doesn't have an opportunity to tell their story, is that fair either. I don't know, well, I know it's not fair to the Native people's and they need to tell their stories and at the same time anyone is able to retell a story. I think I can see this story as this is Gerald's version of the myth of the Pacific Northwest peoples. I would also like to read the myth from someone who grew up with these stories as kids. The myths have many tellings and this is one more. My brain is so tangled. arrgh.

Myths were used to explain phenomenon in life. Science is now capable of explaining how all this works and it is important to know that. For me, the myths still have a power in them. The idea behind them is interesting to me. It's not that I think the myths happened, it's the truth they tell with the knowledge they had still has power in our psyche and imagination. I still feel myths are important for our spirits. Science has it's own beauty and I'm glad we know so much more than we did, but I like the piece that a myth fills in my spirit. I can relate to that piece still. People are ultimately storytellers and we learn from stories. I like the idea, "Politicians use lies to hide the truth, while storytellers use lies to tell the truth." Was that Mark Twain? not sure. That has stuck with me.

The kids knew none of this and they thought the book was great. They gave it 4 stars too. We all thought the artwork was amazing. I did enjoy the book for the story it told.