Hawk, I'm Your Brother
by Byrd Baylor, illustrated by Peter Parnall

Story Summary
This is the story of a Native American boy named Rudy Soto. He lives in the Southwestern United States, and ever since he can remember, he has wanted to fly. He thinks about it all the time. When people ask him why he wants to fly, he says, "I just do." Rudy ends up stealing a baby hawk, in the hopes that by making a hawk his brother, he will learn how to fly. He takes the hawk around with him exploring, but he doesn't want to let it go, so he keeps it tethered, unable to fly away. He wants to hawk to be happy with him. He finally decides that if he really loves the bird, he has to let the bird do what it wants to do, which is to fly away free. Rudy takes the hawk up high on a rock, and allows him to fly away. Rudy and the hawk call to each other for the rest of the day as the hawk soars around, and somehow, Rudy feels as if he's flying too.

Lesson Ideas

There are many things that a teacher could do with this particular book. It is certainly possible to do a science lesson related to this on birds, concentrating specifically on hawks. It would also be an excellent idea for teachers to use this book as a springboard to begin to teach about Native American culture. One might choose to check out a volume of Native American legends and myths and read them to the class, or go on a field trip to a reservation where students could ask the people who live there questions about what it is like to be Native American in America today. It is important that students understand that while we say that people like Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, Native Americans were here first. Settlers pushed them off of their land and onto reservations, killing many of them along the way. It would also be good for students, after having learned some background information, to do individual or group projects on a topic of their choice. They could choose specific tribes, or specific topics that would be informative to share with the class (e.g. The trail of tears, Native American pottery, Native American dances, etc.).