Pushing Up the Sky: Seven Native American Plays for Children

by Joseph Bruchac (Author) Teresa Flavin (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

From acclaimed Native American storyteller Joseph Bruchac comes a collection of seven lively plays for children to perform, each one adapted from a different traditional Native tale.

Filled with heroes and tricksters, comedy and drama, these entertaining plays are a wonderful way to bring Native cultures to life for young people. Each play has multiple parts that can be adjusted to suit the size of a particular group and includes simple, informative suggestions for props, scenery, and costumes that children can help to create.

Introductory notes and beautiful, detailed illustrations add to young readers' understanding of the seven Native nations whose traditions have inspired the plays.

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ALA/Booklist

Easily modified for various numbers of children, and easily produced with everyday materials, these plays offer an excellent extension of American Indian studies for elementary students as well as models for student writing. 

School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-Anyone looking for an unusual way to introduce Native American cultures and stories might try this collection. The scripts are based on tales from the Abenaki, Ojibway, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Snohomish, Tlingit, and Zuni and are accompanied by brief introductions to each tribe and its culture. Many Native words and phrases are included in the dialogues, along with helpful pronunciations. The short, simple scripts are accessible to young, inexperienced actors. The casts include speaking and nonspeaking parts that can be adjusted to group needs. Suggestions are given for easy-to-make costumes, props, and scenery. A variety of pen-and-ink drawings illustrate the plays, as well as one lively gouache illustration per selection. Through color and style, the paintings reflect the regions and cultures of the tribes and add to readers' appreciation and understanding of the atmosphere and setting.-Darcy Schild, Schwegler Elementary School, Lawrence, KS.

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Joseph Bruchac
Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children's book author, poet, novelist and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. Coauthor with Michael Caduto of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series, Bruchac's poems, articles and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications, from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored many books for adults and children including Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Skeleton Man, and The Heart of a Chief. For more information about Joseph, please visit his website josephbruchac.com.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781984814838
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Dial Books
Publication date
August 27, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF017000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Drama
Library of Congress categories
Indians of North America
Children's plays, American
Plays
Drama
Juvenile drama
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 02/01/00
Multicultural Review, 12/01/00

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