The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story

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Summary: Absolutely incredible...
Review: One of the best, if not the best children's book I have ever read. Its an excellent text to help young people realize that no matter who they are, they have a place and a role to play in this world. I loved it.

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Summary: A Muskogee myth explaining why the birds fly south each year
Review: While the myths and legends of great heroes are often the most interesting, there are also stories that have an etiological function in that they attempt to explain the cause or origin of things. On one level "The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story" retold by Joseph Bruchac with illustrations by Susan L. Roth, is an example of myth and etiology as it offers an explanation as to why birds fly south in the winter. Such myths are a sort of primitive science, produced by naive minds trying to find plausible reasons for the ways of the natural world.

But what will most interest young readers is the main part of the story, which tells of an epic ball game played between the animals and the birds. The two sides have been having a great argument that is coming to a head: the birds think they are better because they have wings, while the animals claim supremacy because they have teeth. Before war can break out the leaders of the two sides, the Bear and the Crane, agree to have a ball game: whoever scores a goal first wins and will impose a penalty on the other side. But when they divide into the two sides there is one creature who is left out, the Bat. He had both wings and teeth, but neither side wants him.

Of course there is the idea of the being out of place in the world, which young readers will respond to, but there is also the idea that being different could actually be a good thing and that being small does not stop you from doing big things. "The Great Ball Game" comes from the Muskogee Indian Nation (also known as the Creek), who once inhabited the area of what is now Georgia. In his preface Bruchac explains that versions of this particular story of the ball game between the animals and the birds were common not only in the southeast, but also the northeast and plains regions. Bruchac chose to make the game that is played in this version of the story stickball, which is similar to lacrosse in that it uses two rackets, one held in each hand.

Roth's illustrations are rendered in collage using paper collected from all around the world, such as red umbrella paper from Thailand and a dark green from Italy. One of the other benefits of this book is that it could get students interested in doing collage projects for class (I can see where students could find another story to do and each student could do a collage representing one page). However, I have to admit I did not like it when the big finale of the game happens in dim light and the animals and birds are reduced to silhouettes.