cover image Antelope Woman: An Apache Folktale

Antelope Woman: An Apache Folktale

Michael Lacapa. Northland Publishing, $14.95 (48pp) ISBN 978-0-87358-543-9

Listen, my son. As we go to hunt today, let me tell you of the people who lived here long ago and why we honor all things around us, great and small. So begins this satisfying but unremarkable retelling of an Apache folktale by the author of The Flute Player, In a southwestern village, a resourceful young woman is intrigued by the appearance of a mysterious stranger--actually an antelope in human guise. The maiden marries him, but when they are shunned by her people, the couple chooses to return to his family and live out their lives as antelopes. Since then, the narrator explains, man has honored the antelope by never hunting or killing it. Lacapa's superficially engaging prose contains occasionally stilted passages which may distance some readers. The lovely bride and her enigmatic groom never come fully alive as characters; they exist only in the misty recesses of legend. The illustrations, studded with lustrous native designs in hues of turquoise and gold, ably evoke a southwestern flavor but, due to an apparent attempt at primitive stylization, appear instead somewhat flat. Ages 7up. (Aug.)