The Coyote Bead

Rating:
Summary: Praise for Gerald Hausman
Review: ". . . real magic comes from grace. . . if a people are one with the land, they will endure with the land forever! This is Gerald Hausman's finest book."

-David Kherdian, Newbery Honor award winning author of The Road from Home

"With The Coyote Bead, Gerald Hausman once again displays the sensitivity and sympathetic understanding toward Native people that has long marked his work. This novel offers an intriguing look into a tragic and-unjustly-little- known episode in American history; younger readers of all races should enjoy it."

-William Sanders, award-winning science fiction author of Journey to Fusang

"More than a poignant tale, more than a story laced with native magic, The Coyote Bead is steeped in the richness of Navajo legends which prove determination and perseverance can bring ultimate triumph to all those who have the courage to believe in themselves."

-Mary Summer Rain, author of The Singing Web

"Gerald Hausman brings a poet's keen vision to this narrative of a Native American tragedy, one that reverberates with so much that was to come in our own time. Hausman knows the Navajo people, the land, and the healing wisdom of their culture as well as any living American writer."

-Aram Saroyan, author of Day and Night: Bolinas Poems

"Once again Gerald Hausman has delivered a powerful book for a new generation of readers who deserve to know the whole truth of the past. The tragic yet poignant story of a band of resolute Navajo people as told in The Coyote Bead is as timeless and provocative as the account of the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath. This is an important story of human struggle, resiliency, and hope."

-Michael Wallis, author of The Real Wild West

Rating:
Summary: Recommended for student of Native American mythology.
Review: A family tale of the Dineh, The Coyote Bead retells a heroic battle between the boy Tobachischin and his lethal enemy, Two-Face, the Ute bounty hunter killer incarnation of Coyote, the trickster god. The factual, sparse graceful prose style underlines the terrifying and bloody conflict of evil and good. Hausman's writing quivers and reverberates with underlying song power magic. The bravery of Tobachischin and his protective shaman Grandfather are contrasted with the evil cowardice of the Blue Coats (eeyoni) and their minions the Utes, who brutally murder and herd the Dineh on a 350 mile forced march to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, from Canyon Del Muerto, Arizona. Many Dineh died. This is a tale of a heroic few who survived and used the sacred land and animal helpers to build a new identity despite their pain and suffering. The Coyote Bead is beautifully written for young adults.

Rating:
Summary: Praise for Gerald Hausman
Review: Gerald Hausman is one of Americas greatest living writers and a glorious human being. It is not by imagination alone, nor skill, that makes a great writer. It is also the spirit that resides within the writer and the experiences that make up a writer's life. In the case: spirit, experience, vision, along with a good mixture of imagination make Hausman a master of the writer's craft. Read his work. Enjoy his talent. See the world from his view, and learn.

Rating:
Summary: Good storytelling for readers of all ages.
Review: The Coyote Bead, by Gerald Hausman, is a book for young adults. It's the story of a Navajo boy who survived an attack on his people by the "blue coats" (U.S. federal forces sent to relocate them). Not only must he escape from the blue coats, he's also pursued by Two-Face, a Ute Indian bent on destroying him. The boy, Tobachischin, has only the contents of his grandfather's magic pouch with which to defend himself. These include an arrow straightener, a horsehair whip, a porcupine quill comb, some red powder, and a blue bead called the coyote bead. Each item has been invested with powerful magic, and each, in turn, saves Tobachischin from death. The coyote bead must be reunited with a white coyote bead, carried by Two-Face. Tobachischin must therefore meet face-to-face with his powerful enemy. When the meeting takes place, Tobachischin uses his courage and cunning to defeat Two-Face. He then continues on his quest to live in the mountains with the remnants of his people. The story is a retelling of the near-destruction of the Navajo people and their renewal. They practice a coyote beadway ceremony, designed to "balance the opposing energies of peace and violence, harmony and war." The Navajo recovered from the devastating losses imposed upon them by the blue coats and are today a thriving nation. Although Coyote Bead is written for young adults, I think its meant for people of all ages, as I'm in the fifth decade of my life, and the story entranced me. Hausman is a skilled and exceptionally poetic writer. His work can be savored simply for good storytelling, as well for a personal understanding of a tragic event in American history.

Sandra I. Smith, Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: Good storytelling for readers of all ages.
Review: The Coyote Bead, by Gerald Hausman, is a book for young adults. It's the story of a Navajo boy who survived an attack on his people by the "blue coats" (U.S. federal forces sent to relocate them). Not only must he escape from the blue coats, he's also pursued by Two-Face, a Ute Indian bent on destroying him. The boy, Tobachischin, has only the contents of his grandfather's magic pouch with which to defend himself. These include an arrow straightener, a horsehair whip, a porcupine quill comb, some red powder, and a blue bead called the coyote bead. Each item has been invested with powerful magic, and each, in turn, saves Tobachischin from death. The coyote bead must be reunited with a white coyote bead, carried by Two-Face. Tobachischin must therefore meet face-to-face with his powerful enemy. When the meeting takes place, Tobachischin uses his courage and cunning to defeat Two-Face. He then continues on his quest to live in the mountains with the remnants of his people. The story is a retelling of the near-destruction of the Navajo people and their renewal. They practice a coyote beadway ceremony, designed to "balance the opposing energies of peace and violence, harmony and war." The Navajo recovered from the devastating losses imposed upon them by the blue coats and are today a thriving nation. Although Coyote Bead is written for young adults, I think its meant for people of all ages, as I'm in the fifth decade of my life, and the story entranced me. Hausman is a skilled and exceptionally poetic writer. His work can be savored simply for good storytelling, as well for a personal understanding of a tragic event in American history.

Sandra I. Smith, Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: Good storytelling for readers of all ages.
Review: The Coyote Bead, by Gerald Hausman, is a book for young adults. It's the story of a Navajo boy who survived an attack on his people by the "blue coats" (U.S. federal forces sent to relocate them). Not only must he escape from the blue coats, he's also pursued by Two-Face, a Ute Indian bent on destroying him. The boy, Tobachischin, has only the contents of his grandfather's magic pouch with which to defend himself. These include an arrow straightener, a horsehair whip, a porcupine quill comb, some red powder, and a blue bead called the coyote bead. Each item has been invested with powerful magic, and each, in turn, saves Tobachischin from death. The coyote bead must be reunited with a white coyote bead, carried by Two-Face. Tobachischin must therefore meet face-to-face with his powerful enemy. When the meeting takes place, Tobachischin uses his courage and cunning to defeat Two-Face. He then continues on his quest to live in the mountains with the remnants of his people. The story is a retelling of the near-destruction of the Navajo people and their renewal. They practice a coyote beadway ceremony, designed to "balance the opposing energies of peace and violence, harmony and war." The Navajo recovered from the devastating losses imposed upon them by the blue coats and are today a thriving nation. Although Coyote Bead is written for young adults, I think its meant for people of all ages, as I'm in the fifth decade of my life, and the story entranced me. Hausman is a skilled and exceptionally poetic writer. His work can be savored simply for good storytelling, as well for a personal understanding of a tragic event in American history.

Sandra I. Smith, Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: The Coyote Bead
Review: The Coyote Bead, by Gerald Hausman, is a book for Young Adults. It's the story of a young Navajo boy who survived an attack on his people by the "blue coats" (U.S. federal forces sent to relocate them). Not only must he escape from the blue coats, he's also pursued by Two-Face, a Ute Indian bent on destroying him. The boy, Tobachischin, has only the contents of his grandfather's magic pouch with which to defend himself. These include an arrow straightener, a horsehair whip, a porcupine quill comb, some red powder, and a blue bead called the coyote bead. Each item has been invested with powerful magic, and each, in turn, saves Tobachischin from death. The coyote bead must be reunited with a white coyote bead, carried by Two-Face. Tobachischin must therefore meet face-to-face with his powerful enemy. When the meeting takes place, Tobachischin uses his courage and cunning to defeat Two-Face. He then continues on his quest to live in the mountains with the remnants of his people. The story is a retelling of the near-destruction of the Navajo people and their renewal. They practice a coyote beadway ceremony, designed to "balance the opposing energies of peace and violence, harmony and war." The Navajo recovered from the devastating losses imposed upon them by the blue coats and are today a thriving nation. Although Coyote Bead is written for young adults, I think its meant for people of all ages, as I'm in the fifth decade of my life, and the story entranced me. Hausman is a skilled and exceptionally poetic writer. His work can be savored simply for good storytelling, as well for a personal understanding of a tragic event in American history.

Rating:
Summary: The Coyote Bead
Review: The Coyote Bead, by Gerald Hausman, is a book for Young Adults. It's the story of a young Navajo boy who survived an attack on his people by the "blue coats" (U.S. federal forces sent to relocate them). Not only must he escape from the blue coats, he's also pursued by Two-Face, a Ute Indian bent on destroying him. The boy, Tobachischin, has only the contents of his grandfather's magic pouch with which to defend himself. These include an arrow straightener, a horsehair whip, a porcupine quill comb, some red powder, and a blue bead called the coyote bead. Each item has been invested with powerful magic, and each, in turn, saves Tobachischin from death. The coyote bead must be reunited with a white coyote bead, carried by Two-Face. Tobachischin must therefore meet face-to-face with his powerful enemy. When the meeting takes place, Tobachischin uses his courage and cunning to defeat Two-Face. He then continues on his quest to live in the mountains with the remnants of his people. The story is a retelling of the near-destruction of the Navajo people and their renewal. They practice a coyote beadway ceremony, designed to "balance the opposing energies of peace and violence, harmony and war." The Navajo recovered from the devastating losses imposed upon them by the blue coats and are today a thriving nation. Although Coyote Bead is written for young adults, I think its meant for people of all ages, as I'm in the fifth decade of my life, and the story entranced me. Hausman is a skilled and exceptionally poetic writer. His work can be savored simply for good storytelling, as well for a personal understanding of a tragic event in American history.