Wongo and The Wise Old Crow by Grace and Carl Moon - First Edition Children's Books - Books about Native Americans

First edition of Wongo and The Wise Old Crow by Grace and Carl Moon. An Indian boy and his friends, a young bear and a crow, team up against a cantankerous old bear.

Written by Grace Moon. Illustrated by Carl Moon. First edition, 1923. The Reilly & Lee Co.

Grace Moon (1884 - 1947) was a Newbery Award-winning author whose fascination with Native American cultures inspired her many books. Grace and her husband Carl (1879 - 1948), a photographer of American Indians, collaborated on twenty-two books about the Navajo and Pueblo peoples.

Grace and Carl Moon were well-regarded for their accurate and respectful portrayals of their Indian subjects and attention to detail.

In this story, an Indian boy named Cho-Gay is befriend by Wongo, a young bear, and Kaw, the crow, and they plot up to rid their forest of a cantankerous old bear.

Carl Moon's detailed pen and ink illustrations capture the close relationship between Cho-Gay and the animals, reminiscent of Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

A Daring Plot: Chapter I - In Timbertangle

"A sudden gust of cold wind swept along the mountain side and rattled the dry leaves and dead branches of some jack-oak bushes that stood at the entrance of a snug little cave. Its sole occupant, awakened by the noise, opened his eyes and looked blinkingly up at the pale dawn light that shone on the familiar rocks of the roof above him. Once awake, he realized that he was thirsty and hungry, but he hated to get up, it would be so nice to have just a little more sleep.

While the cave-dweller was deciding between the call of his stomach and his desire to sleep, a big bluejay, with feathers rumpled by the wind, lit on a rock at the cave entrance and, after peering within, called out:

"Sleepy-head! Sleepy-head!" Then, as there was no response from the cave, he called again: "Get up, Wongo. The early bird catches the worm, and the early bear may catch the fat sheep."

"That's all right about the early bird and the worm," growled the little bear angrily, "but a bird doesn't know much and it served the silly worm right for getting up too early. He ought to get caught."

Then Wongo got to his feed and, as the noisy bluejay flew away, he crawled sleepily out of the cave and ambled down a secret trail that led to the canyon below."

Condition*: Very good. Without dust jacket as issued. The coverboards show minor shelf wear; the head and tail of the spine are slightly bumped, and there's a scuff on the back. There's a small stamp-sized bookplate on the front endpaper. Some pages are slightly soiled from handling. The tissue protecting the full-color front plate has a closed tear in the lower left. Acquired from original owner.

Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.