Turtle's Race With the Beaver
by Joseph & James Bruchac
Description:
Publisher's description (Puffin Books, 2005):
Turtle lives in a beautiful little pond with everything a happy turtle needs. But one spring, Turtle awakes from hibernation to discover that her lovely home has been invaded! A pushy beaver takes over Turtle's beloved pond and refuses to share. Instead, he challenges her to a race to determine who can stay. But how can a little turtle outswim a big, powerful beaver? This charming fable of brains versus brawn is a great read for all the young readers in the forest to share!
Author biography (Puffin Books, 2005):
Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children’s book author, poet, novelist, and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. He is the coauthor of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series with Michael Caduto. Bruchac's poems, articles, and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications
Author biography (Strong Nations, 2023):
James Bruchac is a renowned storyteller, author and accomplished tracker. He is the director of the Ndakinna Wilderness Project and teaches in numerous schools throughout the Capital Region.
James is the eldest son of World renowned Abenaki storyteller and author Joseph Bruchac III.
Resource format: Picturebook
Age recommendation: Kindergarten - Grade 3
Keywords: oral traditions, Seneca, storytelling, sharing, humility, animals, Northeastern Woodlands, Iroquis, Abenakis, stories, tale, traditional tale, beaver, land, seasons, winter, spring, turtle, habitats, lesson
Year of publication: 2005
Publisher information: Dial Books for Young Readers
Teaching and Learning Ideas
Our team collaborated with new teachers, alumni of the Werklund School of Education’s Bachelor of Education program, to create teaching and learning plans for texts in this website. With audiences ranging from Pre-Kindergarten to Post-Secondary, lesson plans across this resource address a wide range of school subject areas, inclusive approaches, and Indigenous education topics, such as the revitalization of Indigenous languages. As this website was designed with Undergraduate Programs in Education instructors, as well as teachers in mind, connections to UPE courses have been flagged on each lesson plan. These lessons are intended as a starting place for educators, to help you envision ways in which you might bring Indigenous literatures, as well as ways of knowing, being, and doing, into your teaching contexts. Please adapt, use, and share these lessons in ways that are generative for your teaching practice. We offer our sincere thanks to the dozens of new teachers who gifted us with these creative ideas!
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