Knots on a Counting Rope

Knots on a Counting Rope

By Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Published by Turtleback (1997)

Reading Level: Ages 4-8 years

Pages: 32

Genre: Picture book, Historical fiction

Summary: This is a story about a grand father telling a story to his grandson and the grandson knows the story pretty well. The story is about the grandson. The grandson was born on a stormy night, but the storm stopped when he was born. He was blessed by his grandma but was very sick through the night. Grandpa took him out to see the morning, but the child never open his eyes put reached out to touch two blue horses. He was named Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses. When he was a little older his own horse was born and grandpa named it rainbow and it was the boy's eyes because the boy was blind. The boy taught the horse to race and entered in an official race and didn't win, but beat expectations by finishings. It made him closer to going through the dark mountains. He puts another not in his counting rope and when his counting rope is full he will know the story, even when grandpa is gone.

My Reaction: I thought this book was very sweat and had a nice meaning. It reminded my about a book I read in fourth grade about a mute Nez Peirce boy that had a horse. I also loved the illustrations and some of the story was told by the pictures.

Potential Problems: I don't see any.

Recommendations: I think it would be great to read to children around three or four, but it think I would recommend it to second graders to read. It would be great to read in the classroom when the class learns around Native Americans.