The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story retold by Joseph Bruchac

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bruchac, Joseph.  1993.  THE FIRST STRAWBERRIES: A CHEROKEE STORY.  Ill. by Anna Vojtech.  New York:  Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN  0803713312

PLOT SUMMARY

THE FIRST STRAWBERRIES is a retelling of a Cherokee folktale.  In this version the first man and woman are living happily together enjoying each other’s company until the husband gets upset when his wife decides to pick flowers instead of cook dinner and speaks very harshly to her.  The wife decides to leave her husband and walks away as fast as she can.  The husband goes after her but can’t catch her so the sun takes pity him and tries to help him.  The sun puts raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries in front of the woman in an attempt to get her to stop so the husband can catch her.  In her anger, she passes each of them by.  But, when the sun puts creates a brand new fruit, strawberries, and places them in front of her she stops to admire and taste them.  They are so sweet that they remind her of how happy she was with her husband before they argued.  As she is picking some to share with her husband he is able to catch up to her and apologize.  This story reminds us to be kind to those we love and that friendship and respect are as sweet as the taste of strawberries.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

I found several versions of this story online.  They all had the same plot line with only slight variations.  Some had the man and woman arguing over different things, in some the man chased the woman immediately and in others he waited until nightfall.  All the stories had the same moral at the end that eating strawberries reminds us to be sweet and kind to each other.

It is interesting to me to see how in this story the first man and first woman resemble members of the Cherokee tribe.  As I was thinking through this I decided that the first man and woman probably look different in every culture.  They portray the characteristics of that culture with their skin tone, hair color and body shape.

The pictures in this book help tell the story, but I do not think they are as good as other illustrations I have seen.  You could see how the characters felt by the expressions on their faces and that the sun wanted to help them reconcile, but the scenery seemed fairly plain.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review: “This legend explains the origins of strawberries, grown by the sun to help the first man and woman patch a quarrel

KIRKUS review: “Quietly luminous watercolors capture details of dress, dwelling, implements, flora, and fauna against an open landscape of rolling hills.

CONNECTIONS

-Read with students when learning about how to treat each other

-Have students research other Indian folktales