SAGE SMOKE: Tales of the Shoshoni-Bannock Indians

Twenty brief tales -- mostly about the coyote, the crane, and other animals who were here before man -- explain different phenomena in nature such as why robins have red breasts, why beavers have flat tails or cougars long ones, or how the seasons came to be. The stories are competently told but drama and psychological shrewdness are largely missing, and because of the near uniformity of pattern, reading more than a few at a time yields diminishing returns. Arvis Stewart's swirly, sophisticated illustrations are highly decorative but totally out of synch with the simple traditional tales.