Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr. and John Arcahmbault, illustrated by Ted Rand (Multicultural Literature)

Knots on a Counting Rope depicts the story of a grandfather telling his grandson the story of how he was born. Each time the grandfather retells the story, he ties another knot on his counting rope so, by the end of the counting rope, the young boy will know the story by heart. His grandfather tells him about how he was born a blind, weak infant and almost died but they knew he would survive when two blue horses stopped to look at the boy (which is how he was named Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses). Also, the grandfather recounts a time where his grandson raised, trained, and raced a foal named Rainbow, which helped the young boy to gain confidence to overcome his blindness. 


When I originally chose this story for my book blog, I thought that it would be an effective illustration of Native American culture. However, after our multicultural discussion in class, I realized that the story showed an inaccurate representation mixture of cultures, such as the characters' hair styles and the clothing. With that being said, I would still use Knots on a Counting Rope in my class because it is a quintessential example of how you have to research information you find in a book to ensure that the information is correct. Also, I would have the students study various aspects of the Navajo culture and then read Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault's book to see if they could identify the false information.