Chasing Bigfoot

by Art Coulson, Frank Buffalo Hyde (Illustrator)

Overview

Chooch Tenkiller is not thrilled to be spending some of his summer with his Cherokee story-telling uncles and cousin Janees at a convention in North Carolina. While there, the uncles want to visit Judaculla Rock, a place of spiritual significance to the Cherokee people. Little does Chooch know that he has his own connection to the rock—a connection that could put him in mortal danger.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478875475
Publisher:	Reycraft Books
Publication date:	10/15/2022
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.28(w) x 7.44(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	10 - 16 Years

About the Author

For more than twenty years, Frank Buffalo Hydehas been refining and redefining what is considered to be contemporary Native American art, both as a painter and muralist and as an art writer. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and the Santa Fe Art Institute. His work has been shown in Russia, Japan, France, and at galleries throughout the United States. His paintings are in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Autry Museum of the American West, and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, to name a few. He currently lives and works in Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

04/18/2022

Cherokee teen Chooch Tenkiller just wants to hang out with his friends, so he isn’t thrilled when his mother makes him accompany his 13-year-old cousin Janees and uncles Jack and Dynamite on a trip to a North Carolina Cherokee reservation. His uncles, who are professional story-tellers, insist that the visit was foreseen generations ago by Tsul’kalu, who was one of the asduleni, or Bigfoot, in which Chooch doesn’t believe. When it turns out that sacred Cherokee site Judaculla Rock is in danger of being sold to developer Dr. Viktor Almasty, Chooch finds that the Bigfoot prophecy is true—and that his predetermined mission to deliver a message to the world may just endanger his life. The alternating perspectives of Tsul’kalu, Chooch, Janees, and Dr. Almasty are distinct, though Dr. Almasty’s chapters, which lean into villainous caricature, aren’t as multidimensional as the others. Coulson (Fishing on Thin Ice), who is Cherokee, adeptly captures a modern Native teen’s struggle between wanting to uphold traditions and striving to carve his own path. Cherokee language is featured throughout, and a celebration of Indigenous culture, community, and the search for identity is deeply rooted in the narrative. Ages 10–up. Agent: Jacqui Lipton, Raven Quill Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

02/18/2022

Gr 5 Up—Cherokee Nation middle schooler Maurice "Chooch" Tenkiller wakes up gagged and tied to a chair with a cloth over his head in a dank, smelly basement. He doesn't know what happened or where he is. He gradually remembers he and his cousin Janees, almost 13, and their uncles were on a road trip returning to Minnesota from North Carolina, where his professional storytelling uncles spoke at a conference. While there, they'd visited a sacred Cherokee site, Judaculla Rock, that's covered by mysterious carvings and petroglyphs. It's said that Tsul'kalu, a giant also known as Bigfoot, made his mark on the rock. Tsul'kalu and the Cherokee Little People have foreseen that Chooch is destined to carry their message out to the world. A Little Person that only Chooch can see gives him Ulvsati, a sacred crystal that, when held up to the rock, brings all the rock's markings alive and allows him to hear the message. Unbeknownst to Chooch and his family, the unscrupulous Dr. Almasty and his henchmen intend to kidnap Chooch, because they believe he can read the rock's markings that they think are a map to hidden gold. Coulson, of the Cherokee Nation, keeps the action moving in short chapters, told alternatingly by Chooch, Janees, Dr. Almasty, and Tsul'kalu. The fact that the villains are cartoonishly buffoonish serves to counter the young heroes' actions. The character Chooch was also featured in Coulson's novella The Reluctant Storyteller. VERDICT An appealing addition to the growing body of middle grade fiction by and about Indigenous peoples.—Sharon Rawlins

School Library Journal