A Winter Tale: How Raven Gave Light to the World

Mark Turner’s beautiful children’s book, A Winter’s Tale: How Raven Gave Light to the World, is a sensitive retelling of the Native American creation myth, of how Raven, transformed into a child, stole light from the mythical grandfather who held it as a treasure, and bestowed it upon a world encased in darkness. Shared among numerous Native American tribes, the Raven’s trickery is well-known. However, what makes Turner’s contemporary narrative so compelling is the role the child plays in retrieving light from the loving metaphorical grandfather, the empowerment the child receives from that love, and how, transforming into the Raven, the child takes flight into a world that needed the penultimate gift: light itself. A Winter’s Tale is beautifully presented, with 33 wonderful full-color illustrations by Emily Graves and Mark Turner’s accompanying musical score on compact disc. Children will delight not only in the story retold but in the combined visual and auditory interpretations of the Raven myth.