Traditional Literature: The Hummingbirds' Gift

Title: The Hummingbirds' Gift  

Author: Stefan Czernecki and Timothy Rhodes 
Illustrator:  Stefan Czernecki 

Genre: Traditional Literature (Folk Tale)

Major Awards:  N/A

Age Group: 7-10 years old 

The Hummingbirds' Gift tells the beautiful story of how a lovely family saved the hummingbirds' and how in return the hummingbirds did the same for them. The Folk tale tells the story of a man and a women Isidro and Consuelo and their three children. As a family they would grow wheat and sell the wheat to the local mills. One day their town experienced a terrible drought. There was absolutely no rain to the point that their crops had died, the cacti had died, the river had dried, and since all the flowers were dead the hummingbirds were hungry and eventually began dying themselves. Consuelo felt so bad for the hummingbirds that together with the help of her children and husband she came up with a plan to save the hummingbirds'. Although it took a lot of work from the family, the hummingbirds' were very grateful. Consuelo later realized that if there was no rain, no crops would grow, they wouldn't be able to sell the wheat and she and her husband would not be able to provide for their children. The hummingbirds could sense that Consuelo was worried and gathered straw into a small pile and started to weave the straw into figures giving Consuelo and her family a solution. In the end, not only was the family saved, but they now had a new trade and story to pass on for generations to come. 

The Hummingbirds' gift would be an excellent addition to any 2nd- 5th grade class library. The story exemplifies selflessness and putting others needs before the needs of your own, as well as the tradition and trade of weaving straw figures. In a lesson using this book in the class, the book could be used in a social studies lesson. The students can speak about traditions in their own cultures in a class show and tell activity. The students can then share with the class things that they have made, or received from family members and the story behind how those objects came to be, just like how the hummingbirds where a major part of the straw figures coming to be.