ALA Booklist (Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 1998)

%% This is a multi-book review. SEE the title Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird for next imprint and review text. %% (Reviewed December 1, 1998)

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1999)

Ol' Man Coyote leaves the Potawatomi reservation to be Rodent Control Officer at the World Trade Center, where, gazing up at the sky, he falls in love with a star. Later, the star drops him--literally--and he falls, creating the Reservoir in Central Park. Rich paintings convey Coyote's antics in this modern retelling sprinkled with references to Native culture. Only brief information is given about the tale's origin. Glos.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2--Coyote is a trickster character found in the stories of many Native American peoples. In this tale, he leaves his home on a Potawatomi reservation on the Plains to find work in New York City. Once there, he falls in love with a star and leaves the Earth to dance with her. When he asks to return, she drops him. He lands in Central Park, making a big hole (the Reservoir), and his descendants howl at the night sky to scold her. The story is related in a natural storytelling voice. Although it is set in the modern-day city, the author retains Coyote's traditional characteristics, adding a nice touch and exhibiting an ability to combine older customs with present-day life. The colorful drawings have a childlike quality; they reinforce the humor of the tale and the sense of place. The book concludes with several pages (including the back endpapers) of photographs and information and notes on trickster characters. However, while the section describing the Potawatomi people is interesting, it is very brief and several of the archival photographs do not seem to have a direct connection to this particular book. An additional pourquoi tale.--Darcy Schild, Schwegler Elementary School, Lawrence, KS