The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

Retold and Illustrated by: Tomie dePaola

Grade Level K-3

Genre: Multicultural

Have you ever felt like you don’t fit in? Do you have special gifts or talents that make you unique form everyone else? Have you ever dreamed of what you want to do when you grow up? In this book, The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, by Tomie dePaola, you will read all about how a little boy used his special talents to bring something special and unique to his tribe.

After experiencing a Dream-Vision, Little Gopher learns that he will not grow up to be a warrior like the rest of the boys in his tribe. He was chosen to take on a different calling.  After waiting and being patient he finally finds his true calling through the art of painting. He paints a sunset with paintbrushes that he finds at the place where he watches the sun in the evening. The day after he paints the sunset, the paintbrushes take root in the earth and multiply into beautiful colorful plants. He is then accepted into his tribe as, “He-Who-Brought-the-Sunset-to-the-Earth”. The author notes at the end of the story that these “paintbrushes” are wildflowers that can be found in Wyoming and Texas. 

I think that this is a really great story that illuminates a culture that is different from our (as Americans) own. This book hosts the literary tradition of Native Americans, which is different than our own “American Culture”. I think this would be a great book to have in my library if I were to do a unit on Native American culture. We can appreciate the book for the viewpoint that it shares, and look at it, and learn from it as a form of Native American tradition. This is also a good book to have in a classroom library, because you may have Native American students in your class. This is a book that they might be able to relate to. The images in the book are not offensive, and they are really well done. I really like the way that Tomie dePaola illustrates. The story line is very similar to traditional Native American tales that I have heard before. And, by looking at the publication information and dedication page, it is clear that dePaola is using authentic sources. I feel that the language in this story is appropriate and does not show bias either. I think this book is a great, accurate, unbiased, representation of Native American culture that I would surely keep in my library. As for its use in my classroom, I think I would have students create their own stories based off of ordinary “things” found in the world. Or, I would have my students look into different Native American legends and compare and contrast similarities between stories for an understanding of how/ why these stories were created.

Standard number 1, “Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal and formal discussions in small and large groups.” Students can analyze this story and discuss the differences between different cultures in relation to this story. Do other cultures make stories like this one? Etc… Standard number 8, “Students will identify the basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.” This story can be looked at and interpreted in different ways. This makes for great class discussion opportunities. And, standard 10, “Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.” This genre is different from other genres, and is has characteristics that are different from other genres as well. This book can be analyzed by its unique elements of the multicultural genre.