Turtle's Race with Beaver: A Traditional Seneca Story

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruchac, Joseph and James Bruchac. 2003. TURTLE'S RACE WITH BEAVER: A TRADITIONAL SENECA STORY. Illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0803728522

PLOT SUMMARY
TURTLE'S RACE WITH BEAVER is a time-honored story of brain vs. brawn told from the Seneca tradition. The turtle and the beaver meet when turtle discovers that the beaver has taken over his pond while he was hibernating. The beaver does not want to share the pond, so the turtle challenges him to a race and the winner gets to keep the pond as their home.


CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
A note at the beginning of the story tells the reader that although this version of the story comes from the Seneca tradition, it has been slightly changed by each person who has told the story. Without the authors note at the beginning of the book readers would not know this was a Native American Seneca tale. The only Native American cultural marker I found in this book is that it uses animals to teach a lesson. Using animals to tell stories is not specific to the Seneca culture, but appears throughout all Native American cultures.

The plot of the story will be easy for young children to follow. When the race starts they might expect it to be like the traditional “Tortoise and the Hare,” but they will soon find out that Turtle has some different ideas in this version. A universal theme of this book is that our actions affect other people whether we mean for them to or not. The beaver did not intentionally take over someone else’s habitat; he didn’t know the turtle who lived there was hibernating. But, when the turtle came back the beaver decided that he didn’t want to share the pond with anyone. When he lost the race the turtle offered again to share the pond but the beaver was too ashamed to stay. After originally not wanting to share, Beaver has learned his lesson and shares a new home with a different turtle.

The bright blues and greens of the illustrations help keep young children interested in the story. The facial expressions of the animals help convey what they are feeling. The beaver and turtle are glaring at each other when they are arguing over who’s home should be at the pond. The beaver looks sad when he sees turtle winning the race. When all the animals are gathering for the race, they are drawn to look like they are talking to each other.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: This delightful folktale closely resembles Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Hare." This appealing variant of the time-honored, cross-cultural tale conveys the need for cooperation, perseverance, and humility within group settings. Children will be so involved in the storytelling that they'll absorb these lessons effortlessly."

BOOKLIST: "A clever twist and a final bit of psychological realism give this variant on a Seneca Indian "Tortoise and Hare" tale unusually broad audience appeal. A natural candidate for reading aloud, and for follow-up discussions, too."

CONNECTIONS
Read another version of The Tortoise and the Hare and compare the two versions.
Have students write a story using animals to teach a lesson.

Other books by Joseph Bruchac
HOW CHIPMUNK GOT HIS STRIPES. ISBN: 0142500216
THE FIRST STRAWBERRIES. ISBN: 9780140564099