Dragonfly's Tale is a retelling of a Zuni tale in which the Ashiwi offend the great spirits that have given them a bountiful harvest. When the great spirits visit the tribe only one boy and his little sister have respected the food they have been given and try to offer the spirits some. Since the rest of the tribe was so disrespectful the spirits create a great famine that drove the entire village away, all except the young boy and his sister. The spirits remembered their kindness and rewarded them with food. The rest of the tribe returned and had to learn how to be humble to receive their bounty. I thought this story was a very cute way to introduce the dragonfly with the lesson of humility. This could be used to have students create a story about something that occurs in nature. Also this could open a discussion about good human characteristics. ( )

My favorite thing about this book is the lesson that was taught. It is okay to be generous to others and also that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The corn maidens may have seemed like old beggars that had nothing, but they may have just had a bad harvest. The children were just trying to be nice and in return the old ladies helped them with food from their abundant harvest. ( )

A Native American tale about how the dragonfly came to be. An entire village is punished by the Corn Maidens (their gods) and left with no harvest for two years. While the village migrates to find other food sources, two kind children are left behind. When they pray to their toy, made of dried corn husks, to help them find food, it flies off to the Corn Maidens. The bounty that follows becomes a home to the dragonflies.

After a poor harvest two children regain the Corn Maidens' blessings for their people with the aid of a cornstalk toy, the dragonfly.