March6, 2006

Book Title: Stone Fox
Author: John Reynolds Gardiner
Illustrator: Marcia Sewell
Published: 1980
Publisher: Harper Trophy
ISBN: 0-06-440132-4
Grade Level: 4.0
Genre: Realistic Fiction

Summery:

Ten year-old Willy is brokenhearted to discover that his grandfather's farm is in foreclosure due to unpaid taxes. Overwhelmed by the situation, grandfather developed a psychosomatic illness, takes to his bed, and refuses to speak. With the burden resting on his shoulders, Willy sets forth to save the farm. But how can a young boy raise the $500 needed to pay the taxes? Then Willy sees a poster advertising the National Dogsled Race "first prize $500. But running in the race means beating Stone Fox, the Native American champion sled racer who, with the help of his team of snow white Samoyed dogs, has never lost a race. As Willy and his loyal dog, Searchlight, prepare for the race, Willy learns that Stone Fox also has a good reason for wanting to win the prize money. He is racing to buy back tribal lands lost when his tribe was moved onto a reservation. Willy is thus presented with the moral dilemma of needing to win while empathizing with his competitor, Stone Fox.

Author:

John Reynolds Gardiner, born in Los Angeles in 1944, had a difficult time in school. However, as a young man, he attended The University of California in Los Angeles and earned a Masters in Engineering. In 1974,t the age of twenty eight, while working in Idaho, he heard the story that was to be the basis for the book Stone Fox . Mr. Gardiner is still an engineer, but enjoys writing in his spare time. He sells children's books for colleges and universities, and helps adapt stories so that they can be used in children's television shows. Stone Fox was the first novel John Reynolds Gardiner published. NBC made it into a television movie in 1987. He has also written The Last Secret, General Butterfingers, and Top Secret. Mr. Gardiner lives in Huntington Beach, California, with his wife,Gloria, and their three daughters, Carrie, Alicia, and Danielle.

Tribal group portrayed: Shoshone

Illustration and Cover Art: Illustrations are by Marcia Sewell. Cover designed by Richard Cowdry.

The pen and ink drawing are deliberately vague. Figures are often in the shadows or in the background. Faces are left out of focus and sketchy. There are two drawings of Stone Fox, in both he is scowling stone-faced despite the vastly different emotional situations in the scenes. In each drawing, Stone Fox looms threateningly over "Little" Willy.

Stereotypes?

The character of Stone Fox is the stereotypic cigar store Indian. He is big, scowling and silent. In his silence, he can be depicted as one dimensional and easy to understand. "Little Willy learned that no white man had ever heard Stone Fox talk. Stone Fox refused to speak with the white man because of the treatment his people had received".

This characterization was elaborated on in the physical description of Stone Fox.

"The man was an Indian-dressed in furs and leather, with moccasins that came all the way up to his knees. His skin was dark, his hair was dark, and he wore a dark-colored headband. His eyes sparkled in the sunlight, but the rest of his face was as hard as stone".

The Indian as "Noble Savage" is used in the story as well. Despite Stone Fox's reputation as a dangerous and violent man, ("… in Denver he snapped a man's back with two fingers"), he still takes pity on Little Willy at the end of the race and forfeits the victory and prize money so that Little Willy could win. The savage Indian proved to be a good sport after all.

Loaded words?

Stone Fox is continually described as dangerous and silent. That he is not to be trusted is evident. "The Indian looked at Little Willy. His face was solid granite, but his eyes were alive and cunning".

Distorted History?

In this regard, the author made an attempt to accurately describe the injustice committed to the Shoshone people. "His tribe, the Shoshone… had been forced to leave Utah and settle on a reservation in Wyoming with another tribe called the Arapaho".

Distorted Lifestyles?

The author simplifies the Shoshone subsistence traditions when he describes them as "peaceful seed gatherers". This is all we learn of the tribe, their culture, etc. in the book.

Dialogue?

Stone Fox is conspicuous by his silence. His silence is meant to represent his anger and indignation at the injustice done to his people. Stone Fox does however utter one single line. He threatens, "If anyone crosses this line-I shoot." Though he has broken his code of silent protest, his image as a dangerous man is maintained.

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