Full Moon Stories

This book of stories is a rare treat to read. I couldn't get onto the next story fast enough. With each tale I was pulled straight into the home and at the knees of the storyteller, Grandpa Iron. I "became" one of his grandchildren, smudged by the cedar, leaning forward to hear every detail of the story about horse, moose, mole, swallow, and the nine other animals, one for each poetically descriptive Full Moon of the year such as "Moon of the Popping Trees" in December with turtle. I, like Grandpa Iron's grandchildren, relish and believe the stories! How hard it must have been for the children to wait one whole month for each new story.I love the illustrations, both paintings and colored pencil drawings. They convey the character and movement of the animals so well. The colors are bright and entrancing; and the symbols painted on the animals are intriguing. They look so like the pictographs I have seen painted on hides in museums and reproduced from ledger books. There are stars, moon, lightning, mountains, the sun, and other ones which are yet a mystery to me.As well as the stoies there are details of the children's and Grandpa and Grandma Iron's life on the Wind River Reservation: doing chores, packing to go to the Sundance, eating Grandma's stew and fry bread, and running barefoot in the snow. I have been to Wind River and could feel again through the book the vastness and intimacy of the land. This book is an outstanding model of how stories can be written and presented with enthusiasm for children.