In the Non-Fiction Corner: The Five Legends (And a $100 Givewaway!)

In the Non-Fiction Corner With Lauren 

The Five Legends by the Anasazi Foundation is a quick read packed full of many powerful insights. The interest in Native American studies is growing as many people explore their own family history or try to preserve the culture of this group of people. I know that my own family is proud of our Native American history, so I absolutely loved reading this book that helped share a few legends and stories that are actually very applicable to our world today.

The book begins with two brothers who are at odds with each other and cannot get along. As one brother becomes leader of the tribe, the other gets upset and takes a group of followers to live on the other side of the canyon. The two groups become hateful towards each other, except for the boys’ mother, whose dying wish is to see her son again. The first son goes to the other side of the canyon to bring back his brother to see his mom one last time. When he arrives, the brothers become trapped inside the canyon, lost, still bitter toward one another, and their only help is a strange old man who loves to tell stories. Their journey home can teach us all how to heal divided hearts and change ourselves without trying to change others.

The entire book was beautiful and extremely well-written, but my favorite part was when the brothers’ new friend is talking about how a community or family is much stronger when we focus on the WE rather than the ME. We may not want to change because we feel like we are not in the wrong and that the other person will never change. However, the only person we have control of is ourselves, and as we give those around us a different ME to react to, they may want to change for themselves. I loved that this book gives real advice through beautiful legends that can truly make our lives happier as we think less often of ourselves and see what we can do to help others.

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You can get your copy here

Here's the back copy:

Drawing on 30 years of helping families, this profound fable by the Anasazi Foundation illustrates the true anguish of conflict and explains how we can end war within ourselves, within our families, and even between nations.


Created in 1988 by renowned wilderness pioneers Larry D. Olsen and Ezekiel C. Sanchez (a Totonac Indian whose native name is Good Buffalo Eagle), the Anasazi Foundation invites young people, through a primitive living experience, to effect a change of heart. For over thirty years, their teachings have helped families begin anew and walk in harmony in the wilderness of the world.


Inspired by their wisdom, this book tells the story of two brothers whose warring hearts threaten to destroy their lives and their community. Trapped in a canyon, the two brothers are rescued by a mysterious old man who perceives their need for peace. He offers to guide them home -- inviting them to open their hearts toward a New Beginning. When they agree, he teaches them the five legends of peace. And as they walk forward, they learn that we are free to create peace in our own lives--and how to do it. This discovery saves not only the brothers but ultimately their people. This poetic narrative offers us all a hopeful way out of the canyons of war, leaving behind the warring within.

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