folktale – The Mermaid's Tale

Tales of Jewish Wisdom

Posted on October 28, 2018October 28, 2018 by themermaidtale25535931

Retold by Sheldon Oberman with an introduction and commentary by Peninnah Schram, Solomon and the Ant and Other Jewish Folktales is a compilation of 43 Jewish religious, wisdom, riddle, and trickster tales for readers in 5th grade and above. Published in 2006 by Boyd Mills Press, these stories, in Schram’s words, “offer us a sense of perspective…lift a cloud from our hearts…restore hope and faith in God…put us on the right path…Teaching, always teaching.” Oberman’s retellings of these stories originally from the oral tradition are simple and accessible yet full of great wisdom, perfect for sharing aloud or performing. The stories are arranged chronologically and are bookended by helpful context and notes, allowing even a reader or listener unfamiliar with Jewish culture and history to understand the events, characters, and sources of the stories. Scholars and educators will appreciate the extensive source notes, including tale types and motifs, glossary, and bibliography. This is a collection to be shared with loved ones, perfect for a cozy fireside read-aloud.

Book Reviews

A Doubly Clever Folktale

Posted on October 28, 2018November 5, 2018 by themermaidtale25535931

Written and illustrated by Demi, picture book One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale is the author’s retelling of the Indian folktale “Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles.” Published in 1997 by Scholastic Press, this book for children ages 4-8 tells the story of an Indian raja who thought he was wise and fair by requiring those in his kingdom to give him most of their rice crop for safekeeping in the event of a famine. Well, when famine comes, he turns out to be not so fair after all, keeping all of the rice for himself until a clever girl Rani asks him, as a reward for a good deed she performed, for one grain of rice doubled for thirty days. Demi’s vibrantly colored and beautifully detailed illustrations show us just how much rice this amounts to for Rani and the hungry people she shares it with: over one billion grains of rice. An eye-catching gateway fold reveals that on the thirtieth day, the royal storehouses have been emptied on the backs of 256 elephants. The rich gold accents and engaging story will draw readers in for a read-aloud, but this text also makes an excellent curriculum support, a 30-day table on the book’s last page providing the numbers of grains of rice given to Rani on each day and an instruction to add these numbers together to get the grand total of 1,073,741,823 grains of rice. Readers of all ages will delight in this engaging tale of how one clever girl used math to feed the hungry and teach a ruler a lesson about compassion and fairness.

Book Reviews

A Turtle With Feathers?

Posted on October 27, 2018 by themermaidtale25535931

Written by Tim Tingle and illustrated by Stacey Schuett, picture book When Turtle Grew Feathers: A Folktale from the Chocktaw Nation is the Chocktaw telling of Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Published in 2007 by August House LittleFolk, this book for children ages 4-8 provides an explanation as to why you never see turtles and rabbits racing, for when Rabbit challenges Turtle to a race in this story, Rabbit is surprised to be beaten by Turkey, who had been trying on Turtle’s shell. Stacey Schuett’s acrylic paintings beautifully illustrate this story of friendship and provide the reader with charming depictions of the animal cast’s expressions, while Tim Tingle’s use of rhymed dialogue and onomatopoeia provide the sounds of the tale’s animals and help us to understand the value of humility. Not only does this story make an entertaining read-aloud for young readers, but it also has a place as curriculum support, the author’s source note at the end providing another point of reference for the study of Native American mythology. Children and their caregivers will enjoy this Choctaw tale, learning, as Tingle puts it, that “you don’t have to be the biggest, or the fastest, or the best. But it sure is nice to be friends with those that are!”