Coyote in Love with a Star

Montano, Marty Kreipe de. Illustrated by Tom Coffin. Coyote in Love with a Star. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution: Washington, D.C. 1998.

Marty Kreipe de Montano is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomia from Kansas. She has explained that this story is an adaptation of a traditional tale that has been told in many different ways. She has brought this tale to the present and she goes on to tell that it is somewhat autobiographical. The text revolves around Coyote who lives on the Potawatomi Reservation in Kansas. ‘Ol Man Coyote is lonely and decides to move out to New York City to find a job and someone special. He finds a job and falls in love with a star. Soon, Coyote realizes that he cannot be in love with the star because it is it cannot love back. The star drops him to the ground and a reservoir is created out of Coyote. While this tale has used the Coyote to give an explanation of how things in our world have been created (like reservoirs), the corky interpretation the story many hinder the story’s significance.

There were several parts story that were interesting. For example, the use of the Coyote as the main character is significant because the coyote strongly relates to a trickster character that is often used in tribal nations. However, in the illustrations the background characters were people. This may create an underlying connotation which might suggest that members of the Prairie Band Potawatomia are animalistic. Also, specific references like, he loaded “his Pendleton blanket into his VW van,” “Coyote drove over the George Washington Bridge” and “He became the Rodent Control Officer in the World Trade Center.” While it is understood that the story is somewhat autobiographical, these very specific details take away from the overall story.

The illustrations of the story were done by Tom Coffin, also a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe as well as the Creek tribe. The illustrations are cartoon like and simplistic, often using many complimentary colors. Coffin has done well to support the text through illustrations.