My friend Riti Prasad is on a roll! I have before me her second book for children, Folktales from Around the World. It has five delightful stories, one each from Malaysia, South Africa, Czechoslovakia, Nigeria and Japan. The book is beautifully illustrated by Navleen Kohli.
The first story tells the tale of a clever mouse deer, who manages to outwit several far more powerful animals in the forest in which he lives.
The next, a Zulu folktale, tells us how stories were born, and is a charming account of a family whose children are hungry for stories, and how the mother's sincere efforts to get them stories bear fruit.
The Czech story is about two sisters, Marushka and Helena, and also why the Czech weather is so unpredictable. Marushka's efforts to fulfull her sister Helena's demands take her to the top of the mountain, at the base of which they live with their parents, where she meets the twelve months, who help her. Of course there is a moral too.
The Yoruba tale from Nigeria, about an elephant and a tortoise, is an absolute delight. Anything more about this story would detract from the fun of it!
The Moonflower, a story from Japan, is a beautiful story about a baby girl who is found in the forest by a childless woodcutter, who takes her home to his wife, and they bring her up as their own child.
Once she grows up, her destiny takes an unexpected turn. A gentle, poignant story.
I only wish there had been more stories. These are refreshingly different, and also a reminder of the world's amazingly rich heritage of folk tales.
Published by Mango Books, an imprint of DC Books.
You can order it here:
http://www.mangobooks.net/book_details/8428/folktales_from_around_the_world
The first story tells the tale of a clever mouse deer, who manages to outwit several far more powerful animals in the forest in which he lives.
The next, a Zulu folktale, tells us how stories were born, and is a charming account of a family whose children are hungry for stories, and how the mother's sincere efforts to get them stories bear fruit.
The Czech story is about two sisters, Marushka and Helena, and also why the Czech weather is so unpredictable. Marushka's efforts to fulfull her sister Helena's demands take her to the top of the mountain, at the base of which they live with their parents, where she meets the twelve months, who help her. Of course there is a moral too.
The Yoruba tale from Nigeria, about an elephant and a tortoise, is an absolute delight. Anything more about this story would detract from the fun of it!
The Moonflower, a story from Japan, is a beautiful story about a baby girl who is found in the forest by a childless woodcutter, who takes her home to his wife, and they bring her up as their own child.
Once she grows up, her destiny takes an unexpected turn. A gentle, poignant story.
I only wish there had been more stories. These are refreshingly different, and also a reminder of the world's amazingly rich heritage of folk tales.
Published by Mango Books, an imprint of DC Books.
You can order it here:
http://www.mangobooks.net/book_details/8428/folktales_from_around_the_world
3 comments:
Sounds like a perfect gift for kids. And grown-ups who are kids too.
@batulm: Yes! I love the diverse cultures that these folktales talk about, and being a grown up is often highly overrated!
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