Yerxa, Leo. Ancient Thunder. Toronto, ON: House of Anansi Press, 2006.The text is simple, short, potent and full of wonder. The fact that it doesn't follow the linear structure of a traditional English sentence, choosing instead to string together a series of related clauses with an unmentioned subject, puts it more in the realm of poetry than narrative. But the illustrations are the true focus of this book: using paint on watercolour paper, Leo Yerxa (an artist of Ojibway ancestry) recreates the look of traditional painted leather clothing of the native people of the Great Plains. The story is told through the designs on the back of the shirts and dresses, with other collaged or paper-crafted elements added in the background.
That being said, the text does not pale in the shadow of the illustrations but works with it. Not only does the lyrical language suit the mood of the images, it also creates a dependency between illustration and text since the visual cues are needed to understand the text which never once names the horses as the main focus of what is essential a song of praise for these creatures and their prairie landscape. A visually stunning and extraordinary book that celebrates horses and their place in lives of the native people of the Great Plains.
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