Rampage of the Glutton Monsters

John Littleton reads from his new book in a live broadcast on KWMR Radio. CLICK HERE to view photographs from John's Book Release parties in Point Reyes Station and San Rafael.

A New Children's Book
by John Littleton

Brother and sister twins, Silver Moon and Stone Eyes, must save their Native village from the ravenous Glutton Monsters. The twins journey to seek their roots, find their powers and confront a devastating foe in this mythical tale about saving our planet. Who are these Gluttons? Can they be transformed before they consume all living things?

John Littleton carries the ancient tradition of the sacred storyteller into modern times, sharing a narrative that entertains but also helps the listener enter a deeper space of knowing, recognition and understanding.

His story is a parable for our challenging times, one that brings awareness to the causative factors of our environmental and social problems through the enjoyment of a magical story. It is a heroic tale of transformation that speaks to the heart of young and old alike.

Enjoy this thought-provoking adventure with the children in your life, an adventure whose outcome rests perhaps in the very hands of those who listen and hear the messages contained in this book.

Tom Pinkson, Ph.D., author of Flowers of Wiricuta

WEST MARIN CITIZEN BOOK REVIEW

by Richard Vacha

John Littleton has written a wonderful story that reflects a lifetime of research into the themes of Native American thought and philosophy. He's penetrated the mysteries of the old myths and icons, such as Coyote the Trickster, and expressed them in a beautiful and gentle manner. He brings these distillations of ancient wisdom forward into our present time and reveals how pertinent they are as guides in dealing with current conflict and confusion. John addresses a source of fear and worry that troubles nearly any child growing up in our times - rampant destruction of natural resources and living systems in a culture that seems caught in constant conflict. Yet with an amazingly perceptive insight his tale offers a window into understanding our world and how to go forward with courage and compassion. He provides a path toward living with clarity of vision and wholeness of spirit, and a way to confront injustice without falling into anger and hatefulness. It's a most hopeful vision and a view that may be of profound comfort to anyone, young or old, who is concerned about the contemporary state of the Earth and humanity.

In his narrative John explores the jarring impact of our extractive, predatory culture on Native American people, who had maintained a successful balance with the natural world for thousands of years. The wanton destruction and pollution that our materialistic society depends upon is squarely faced, but the genius of John's story is the compassion and gentleness that underlies the strategies employed in finding resolution.

For example, Grandfather and Grandmother tell the Twins: "Our elders teach us the value of a life in harmony with other beings. We grow in wisdom by talking from the heart and telling the truth...We each have our many imperfections, but we try as best we can to stay true to the values passed down by our ancestors." One of the twins asks Mother Earth, "How can we kill the Gluttons who are wiping out the people and destroying the land?" She answers: "You can never kill them, but you might help transform and heal them." Later, Father Sun goes further: "You need to understand that these villains who seem so inhuman are merely children like yourselves who suffered abuse and mistreatment from those around them. As a result they grew increasingly greedy and hateful.... To save the world from them, you'll need a new power--the power of compassion--so you can help the Gluttons heal their wounds."

In sum, John has bridged the enormous gap between our modern civilization and the ancient cultures. He's brought forth the guidance of indigenous wisdom and made it relevant to our lives today filling a void in modern mythologies. Current religious philosophy is often little more than blind faith in a dysfunctional dogma leaving us to grope in the dark. John has brought forth truths deeply embedded in oral traditions and made them available for our lives today. He penetrates to the core of the healing process itself and offers both a way to heal and to be healed. It's a very promising message whose power derives from its unwavering honesty.

Each time I re-read this simple story--and it is well worth many re-readings-- I go through my own anger at the relentless course of destruction in which modern humanity remains enmeshed. But I end with a sense of peace in the depth of understanding the story achieves. There's a strength of conviction and a clear assessment of the challenges we face, while revealing a way forward that rises above anger and hatred. The tale suggests that our own path toward inner peace is the same path we need to follow in helping to heal the world around us. This is the kind of honesty that every child already knows in their heart.

Thanks John!

Book Review

by Trout Black

At a recent gathering I asked two questions: when I asked who believes intellectually, in their logical brain, that humans, given their present trajectory, will survive, about twenty percent of the people raised a hand; when I asked who, in their hearts, believe that we will survive, everyone raised a hand.

In his newly published book Rampage of the Glutton Monsters storyteller John Littleton gifts these same questions to our children through a hauntingly beautiful, incisively thoughtful story. Glutton Monsters are eating our world. Their insatiable appetites, accompanied by horrible breath – can you hear kid’s squeals “yuck!” – devourer everything. Littleton, who developed this story through his forty years as an elementary school teacher, as well as his studies and experiences as an anthropologist, takes this ancient theme and inhabits it with both Coyote, who says we should do nothing, “You can’t change the way the world unfolds if that is how it has been created,” and heroic twins. who decide to accept the challenge “to help save the world.”

These twins, usually two boys, differ from the usual myths: Stone Eyes is a hesitant, trying-to-be-brave, boy; his sister Silver Moon, is a particularly adventurous, bright girl. Littleton tells us about their vision-quest journey to find out how to end the Glutton’s rampage. The twins return to the large rock where they were born, climb Old Spider Woman’s web to visit Father Sun, accept a ride on Eagle from danger to safety, and slide down a rainbow back to earth.  Wonderful details.

At first the twins, especially Stone Eyes, “I’ll cut them to pieces!”, envision battling the Glutton Monsters. But unlike James Cameron’s twisted vision in Avatar, these indigenous heroes learn a deeper way: their Mother Rock tells them, “You can never kill them.....you might transform and heal them.”  And Father Sun tells them, “No good shall come should you kill these woeful creatures, as you yourselves would become like them. Anger and weapons are not the answer. To save the world you will need a new power – the power of compassion – so that you can help the Gluttons heal their wounds.”

Littleton, who has traveled with the indigenous Huichol people in Mexico on their sacred pilgrimages, effortlessly incorporates their ancient wisdom of asking Grandfather Fire for courage and advice into his tale.  Both Stone Eyes, “I no longer feel like a fearful, confused child,” and Silver Moon, “We now have a vision for our lives,” speak before Grandfather Fire.  And later, towards the end of the story, as one of the Glutton Monsters slowly changes into a wounded girl, her transformation includes sitting before the fire as “she poured her sorrows into the red-hot flames as she felt her wounds diminishing and leaving her body.”

Littleton concludes his fine book with a page he entitles “End of the Beginning.”

He asks his readers, “Will the effort to heal the countless Gluttons who still roam the land succeed in time to save the earth?”  This inquiry reminds me of William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (putting Littleton in pretty good company).  Faulkner said, “I decline to accept the end of man.....The writer’s duty is.....to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have the glory of his past.”  Littleton’s Rampage of the Glutton Monsters incorporates each of these qualities, beautifully. 

I agree with the comment of Edgar Ramirez, age 10, quoted on the book’s back cover:  “I think everyone in the world should read this story.”

Trout Black is a psychotherapist and poet
who lives with his wife and family in San Rafael.