THE MAGIC OF SPIDER WOMAN
by DUNCAN, Lois
- New
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- New/No Jacket Issued
- ISBN 10
- 0590461567
- ISBN 13
- 9780590461566
- Seller
-
Austin, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Scholastic, 2000. 1st Paperback Edition 2nd Printing. Soft cover. New/No Jacket Issued. Shonto Begay. CONDITION: NEW 2000 Scholastic paperback, 1st paperback edition, 2nd printing. Beautiful color illustrations by Shonto Begay using Southwestern hues. CONTENT: Much more than a pourquoi tale, this story also concerns the rejection of obsession, even in the service of beauty, and recalls the Greek myth of Arachne. When Wandering Girl learns from Spider Woman how to make blankets from her sheep's wool, she is renamed Weaving Woman. She marries and spends a winter at her loom. In the spring, she discovers how to make dyes and is inspired to "create the most beautiful blanket in all of the world." As this goal consumes her, she forgets the Navajo Middle Way; her life loses its balance and her spirit becomes trapped in the blanket. Through a shaman's intervention, Spider Woman returns to pull a loose strand from the border, spoiling its perfection and freeing the weaver's spirit. Since then, the text adds, "every Navajo blanket has been woven with a pathway, so the spirit of the weaver will not be imprisoned by its beauty." The details Duncan adds from the Dineh creation story, as well as the happy ending, make it distinctively Navajo, as do Begay's light-spangled paintings. Significantly, in almost every one, the perfect rectangle of the illustration is broken by an element of the design extending beyond it: a visual reminder of the story's moral. The impact of the heroine's decision to use dyes is somewhat lessened by the brightly patterned clothing she wears throughout. Nevertheless, Begay's dramatic shifts of perspective, his innate sensitivity to the land and people depicted, and the text's powerful message about pride's deadly effects combine in an appealing and meaningful way.
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Details
- Bookseller
- pacaritambo books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 002162
- Title
- THE MAGIC OF SPIDER WOMAN
- Author
- DUNCAN, Lois
- Illustrator
- Shonto Begay
- Format/Binding
- Soft cover
- Book Condition
- New New
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket Issued
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Paperback Edition 2nd Printing
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0590461567
- ISBN 13
- 9780590461566
- Publisher
- Scholastic
- Date Published
- 2000
- Keywords
- Children's Native America, Children's myths, Children's folklore, Navajo folklore,
- Bookseller catalogs
- Native America: Folklore; Native America: Navajo/Navaho; Native America: Children's Books; Children's Books: Folklore, Mythology;
Terms of Sale
pacaritambo books
If you should ever be unhappy with a book you order from us (Heaven forbid!), you may return the book within 15 days of receipt. If the error is ours, we will refund your original shipping charge and pay the return shipping as well. If the error is yours, we will keep actual postage. Any questions or problems, just email us and we'll work it out together. A word about international shipping: if I can prove that I mailed the book to you (and I will be able to), I cannot be responsible for the postal problems of another country. Sorry about that.
About the Seller
pacaritambo books
About pacaritambo books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...