THE FIRST STRAWBERRIES by Joseph Bruchac & Illustrated by Anna Vojtech

Bruchac, Joseph.  1993.  The First Strawberries:  a Cherokee story.  Ill. by Anna Vojtech.   New York:  Dial Books for Young Readers.  ISBN 0-803-1331-2

In this pour quoi tale of the creation of the first strawberries, Joseph Bruchac sets the stage “long ago when the world was new, the Creator made a man and a woman.”  Anna Vojtech beautifully illustrates the man and woman with traditional Native American clothing and happy contented faces.  We see them at authentic daily tasks such as the man making an arrowhead and the woman shucking corn.  The conflict begins on the very next page as the man is unhappy when he comes home from hunting and finds that his meal is not ready because his wife is out picking flowers.  His cold, harsh words hurt his wife, and she tells him she will not live with him anymore.  She walks toward the sun and he follows her, but cannot keep up her brisk pace. 

The Sun sees that the man regrets his angry words, and tries to distract the woman so the man can catch up to apologize.  The sun puts in her path the first raspberries, then the first blueberries, then the first blackberries, but all are ineffective in slowing the hurt, angry steps of the woman.  Finally “the Sun tried its hardest,” and creates strawberries in the path of the woman.  The woman stopped when she saw them “glow like fire in the grass.”  When she bit into one, its sweetness reminded her of “how happy she and her husband had been together before they quarreled.”  The husband was able to catch up to his wife and ask her forgiveness for his harsh words.  The woman’s response was sharing the sweet strawberries with her husband.

Anna Vojtech captures the beauty of a brand new world with her lovely watercolor paintings in cool soothing tones and glowing sunshine.  She illustrates the Native American pair with warm earth tones that communicate not only strength, but soft feelings as well.

This simple, traditional tale with its themes of kindness, respect, forgiveness and sharing, is perfect for a very young audience.  How delicious it would be to initiate a school tradition to honor the Cherokee culture with a Strawberry Day to remember the importance of these virtues in all societies.  The talents of Joseph Bruchac and Anna Vojtech create a culture rich story so sweet, it just might make your mouth water for some strawberries!