cover image Purple Coyote

Purple Coyote

Cornette. Doubleday Books for Young Readers, $12.95 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-385-32664-3

This coyote tale winds down to a one-trick-pony ending. In the middle of the desert Jim meets a purple coyote that does a little dance, balances itself fetchingly on its right foot and howls, ""Wululi Wula Wulila Wuwu Wa!"" Jim wants to know why the coyote is purple; the coyote says it's a secret, ""But you can ask me questions if you want."" ""Did you eat too many blueberries? Did you catch purple-itis?"" the boy asks, to the coyote's ""No."" The boy becomes impatient at not finding the answers to the creature's purple secret, so turns to another line of questioning: ""Why do you do that dance and why you [sic] howl in that funny way?"" he asks. The coyote tells Jim that's the second secret, and when Jim does the coyote's dance, Jim himself turns purple, and the coyote returns to its natural color. At story's end, purple Jim tries the coyote's trick on a raccoon that wanders by. ""Do you want to find out why [I'm purple]?"" he asks. The raccoon's emphatic ""No,"" abruptly ends the book. Most trickster tales feature the hero learning a trick or two himself; but here, unfortunately, when readers see the high price Jim pays for his curiosity, they may infer that being curious or asking good questions are to be avoided. Rochette's simple watercolors feature a cartoon-like, bushy-tailed coyote whose crafty expressions are in humorous contrast to earnest Jim in his red baseball cap. All ages. (June)