Spotted Eagle & Black Crow: A Lakota Legend

In this tale of honor and fealty, Emery Bernhard refashions the eponymous protagonists as brothers. When Black Crow realizes that both he and Spotted Eagle love Red Bird, he lures his brother to a mountain peak, leaves him to perish and returns to claim his bride. Spotted Eagle meanwhile absorbs the wisdom of the eagles who befriend the brave and return him to his people. The graphic shapes and native coloration of Durga Bernhard's stylized artwork convey the narrative's contradictory emotions simply and succinctly. Placed within her flavorful paintings, patterned borders frame boxes of text. A war party ultimately claims the life of Black Crow, but--despite the book's intended moral lessons--readers may have trouble interpreting Spotted Eagle's final words to his dying brother (``Meet the enemy where you stand! Then, I will forgive you whether you live or die'') as anything more than vindictiveness. Also, the complex moral underpinnings here are a bit marred by an interjection of political correctness. Although Caucasians play no role in the story, a preamble states that it takes place long ago, ``before the white man stamped eagles on silver coins, before the prairie earth was stitched with railway ties and churned to dust by wagon wheels.'' Ages 5-8. (Apr.)