The Gift of Receiving — Kevin Robinson

The Gift of Receiving is the story of two animal children, Coyote daughter and Wolf son, and how they think about and go about getting what they want. This is the first volume in a collection of children's tales intended to emulate the delightful Native American tradition of "animal" or "lodge fire" stories. The collected series is called The Grandfather and Grandmother Bear Stories, and for best effect should be read aloud by an adult. Of course children can read this story by themselves, but part of the magic of the Native tradition was that tales like these were "handed down" aloud by one of the elders of the tribe. The "animal people" provide a non-threatening model that children of all ages can relate to, and life qualities like honor, generosity, patience, and integrity are demonstrated along the way. In The Gift of Receiving, Coyote daughter starts out like many children, just assuming that things should be given to her because she's cute. Fortunately Wolf son demonstratres a different approach.