#29-Tenzin's Deer

Tenzin's Deer

Written by Barbara Soros

Illustrated by Danuta Mayer

Barefoot Books, 2003

29 Pages

Multicultural (Tibet)

      This is the story of Tenzin, a young boy from Tibet. One day while Tenzin was out walking in the hills around his village he came across deer tracks. He followed the tracks to an injured deer. The deer had been shot with an arrow. Tenzin knew that if he took the arrow out it would only kill the deer faster. Tenzin doesn't know what to do but the deer tells Tenzin to carry him away and not to do anything for now. The deer tells Tenzin that he will find out what to do in a dream. That night Tenzin sleeps with the deer by his side and just as the deer says, he has a dream about a river running down the moutian. The next day Tenzin takes the deer to this river. The current of the river eases the arrow out of the deers side. This leaves a hole and Tenzin does not know what to do about the open wound. Again the deer tells Tenzin that the answer will come to him in a dream, and once again the deer is right. Tenzin cares for the deer and the deer becomes Tenzins closet companion. After a while the deer comes to Tenzin in a dream and tells Tenzin that it is time for him to let the deer go. Tenzin knows that this is the right thing to do but it is hard for him. When he wakes in the morning he lets the deer go and says goodbye to his dear friend. Tenzin grew up and became a doctor. Sometimes Tenzin would have dreams about his friend and he would see her as the strong beast she became.

     Mayer used gouache to create the illustrations for this book. Mayer uses borders throughout the book. All the pictures have a border around them. The text is always on the right side and is contained in a border. The border that contains the text usually has some art surrounding it that pertains to the text and may include things that are not in the larger illustration on the right side of the text. Usually there are little details included in the border around the text that are not included in the large illustration opposite the text.

     This would be a great book to use to help students understand that sometimes we have to say goodbye to people and things we love. It would be a great book to use if a student moves away in the middle of the year and the other students are sad about this. Also it would be good to help students if they have a family member die and they are struggling to deal with the death. It could be something that is shared with the whole class or could also be something that the teacher shares with just a few students that she knows need the lesson. I think all students would benefit from hearing this story. This also could be used to talk about the Tibet culture. It would be a great way to talk about how in Asia one of the things that people practice is caring for each other and the things around them. It would be a great way to teach a lesson on caring for each other and treating each other nicely.