Fables and Fairy Tales Books

My 2 year old Grandaughter loved the story and illustrations. I loved the new modern take with the baseball cap, glasses, sandels and hoop earrings for the bears' attire. A delightful and fun story from the past for today.

As a children's librarian, I am often looking for fairy tales written simply for my preschool storytimes. This book meets my needs with large, colorful pictures and simple text. The traditional story is presented although the bears are far from frightening for little children. The bears are the sympathetic characters, especially with their amusement at Goldilock's invasion of their home and their familiar clothing. Gorbachev's illustrations have many fun details, including views of the bears on their family outing through various windows of the house. The book will entertain children-and hopefully adults-- through several rereadings.

As with "B Karem", I must admit to a bit of nepotism in my accolades for this book. However, my great-aunt Chris brought back to me a clearer version of the hazy childhood memories of my great-Grandma Karem. Yes, I remember the blue sweater. And how she always wore her hair in those two braids up on her head, but let them down at bedtime. One of my favorite parts of the book is how the author captures the subtle, poetic flavor of the Arabic language when Gram tells Rafe "sachtine" (usually followed by "yu ulbe"). What does it mean ? You'll have to read the book. . .

I admit to a certain amount of bias as we're talking about a story written by a member of my family about a member of my family.

But, my Aunt Chris really got it right. I bought it and read it to my kids and my three-year-old gets a delightful kick out of it.

May your children enjoy it as much as my own.

To the stories of the great flood from the Bible, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the classical myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha, we can add this Karina version of the deluge story. The Karina, called the Carib Indians by their Spanish conquerors, are the descendants fo the the people that occupied eastern Venezula from the Orinoco River to the coast. "The Great Canoe" tells the story of how, a long time ago, Kaputano, Dweller of the Heavens, appeared to the Karina and warned them that a great rain would fall and water would cover the earth. Kaputano urged the Karina to join him in building canoes in which to escape the flood, but only four couples believed him. This is their story.

Almost as interesting is the quest of Maria Elena Maggi, who wanted to set the story of Noah's Ark in the New World, only to discover various Karina versions of the deluge story. While Maggi worked on weaving the story into the world of the Karina, artist Gloria Calderon studied the fauna and flora of the Caribbean region to work into her gorgeous illustrations. Orignally published in Venezelua as "La Gran Canoa," this English version is translated by Elisa Amando. An afterword will be of little interest to young children, but teachers and parents will enjoy learning about how Maggi and Calderon immersed themselves in their research for this story and the various antecedents for both the legend and the artwork.

I am putting together a Comparative Mythology course and stories like "The Great Canoe," which can be compared and contrasted with myths and legends from other cultures around the world, are perfect introductory material for such a class. However, for the young readers for whom this book is intended, simply listening to the story and looking at the detailed pictures, will be enough.

The Great Canoe: A Karina Legend is a tribal tale retold for preschool readers ages 2 to 5 and superbly illustrated by Gloria Calderon. The Karina were a tribal people living along the banks of the Orincoco River in what is now Venezuela and were known as great navigators, traders and warriors termed "Caribs" by the Spaniards. In the story, Kaputano, dweller of the Heavens, appears to the Karina people and warns them that a great rain would come and water would cover the earth. Kaputano urges the people to join him in building a canoe, but only four couples agree to help. They built a huge canoe and bring two of each kind of animal on board with them, plus a seed from every plant. Just as they finish their work a huge storm begins and a flood of water covers even the tallest trees drowning all the humans and animals left outside the boat. After many days the water subsides and Kaputano realizes that the survivors cannot live in such a flood ravaged world so he creates marshes, rivers, mountains and trees for them. The Great Canoe is a welcome and highly recommended addition to family, day-care center, preschool, and community library fairytale, mythology, and folklore collections.

Bolt's taken La Fontaine's work and translated a passle into plain English, a feat that required updating the syntax, flogging the rhymes until they obeyed, and making a decent stab at meter. English is a scrappier language for rhymes and rhythms compared to those slick Latinate tongues, and nobody since John Donne has managed to make it sound like it just popped out of your mouth that way, unless you are a rap star.

Bolt makes the poetry flow like conversation, discarding an even meter when it doesn't suit the lines or finishing a sentence regardless of where the rhyme falls. The result is a more natural sound than if it had been hobbled rigidly to its couplets.

Then there's the fables themselves. Many, like the title story, have been done to death. But did you know the tortoise taunts the hare at the end?

"I've won! I don't know where you'd be
If you'd a house to lug like me!"

What attitude. I love it!

Many of these fables may not already be familiar, like the haunting "The Man and the Mirror," about a man who at first cannot believe the ugly mug staring back at him is his own:

These mirrors caused him such dismay,
At last he hid himself away
In a far corner where he know
No mirror would offend his view.

Eventually, he sees his reflection in a river and realizes it's time to get a life:

The mirrors stand for others who,
By being faulty through and through,
Show us that we are faulty too.

And I usually scoff at the "faux naive" school of illustration, but it works here. Potter emulates colonial American folk art, like something you'd see in an old needlepoint or a more sprightly version of Edward Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom paintings.

She does away with perspective, going for a flat picture plane so the characters (both people and animals) frame the text. She used gouache, a type of watercolor, and a palette rich in cheerful spring hues.

This is a keeper; one you'll refer to again and again, and useful for life lessons, just as they were originally intended when set into ancient Sanskrit before working their way into many other languages before La Fontaine.

"The Hare and the Tortoise" is a gorgeous new collection of La Fontaine fables from Barefoot Books.

Translated by Ranjit Bolt and illustrated by Giselle Potter, "The Hare and the Tortoise and other Fables of La Fontaine" contains nineteen fables as told by La Fontaine. Bolt writes in the introduction that La Fontaine's fables were not, of course, new in the seventeenth century, but "for the quality of his writing and the brilliance of his wit, La Fontaine has to be the king."*

Bolt maintains La Fontaine's sing-song rhythm and rhyme, making "The Hare and the Tortoise" a great read-aloud choice for children graduating from Mother Goose. Potter's illustrations are whimsical fun as usual and a variety of animals adorn every page. "The Hare and the Tortoise and other Fables of La Fontaine" is highly recommended for children from 2-12.

This is a great read for for adults and parents to share with their children. The author shows, in this fable, how to treat others and how damaging stereotyping can be without being preachy or teachy in his writing style and tone.

This book is a wonderful treat. You are led into the story as one is led along a beautiful path. The story is familiar yet surprising. As the author's first published work it represents a high level of creativity, sensitivity, and talent. I found myself encouraged to be myself and to remember the truth.

My younger son loved this book. Actually, maybe he just loved hearing his Dad say "Quetzacoatl" and "Tezcatlipoca".

He still loves music, and makes music. And he does know music is the gift of the divine. I like to think reading this book (and discussing the beautiful artwork) with him helped.

While there are some issues between the text and the pictures, there is no better storybook to grab the attention of young students studing ancient American archaelogy, folklore and/ or effective book illustration. Each page is a jewel. Grade-A!

Fantastic book. I and others have read several of these stories to the cub scout pack on camping trips. Lot's of fun.

I'm glad I was able to find this one for my son for Christmas, as others in the series are out of print now.

Eric A. Kimmel retells this classic Russian fairy tale with such lively language that you are immediately drawn in to the story of a noble archer and his adventures with a magical dove. He faces all kinds of perils including a jealous and treacherous czar. He is given some help along the way by Baba Yaga and Grandmother Frog. In the Land of Nine Times Nine he faces Kot Buyan, a huge and monstrous black cat. He solves difficult puzzles and fights impossible battles with his wits and the magical help of I-Know-Not-What. This rich story is told in chapter format and is accented with the wonderfully evocative illustrations of Robert Sauber. The colorful images are filled with folksy charm and the one of Baba Yaga in her house set on chicken feet captures this traditional Russian witch with delightful humor and a pleasant sense of thrill. This is a fun book to read aloud over a period of several nights, taking time to go over the costumes and details of the pictures and to talk about czars and enchantments and magical spells. It is a super book for cultivating a child's imagination.

This is a really good book. The illistrations are beautiful and I keep on re reading this book. It is one of the few books that doesn't bore me if someone reads it out loud.

Konnichiwa. I got this book when I was 6. I think this is one of the best picture books on the entire earth! It really sparked my interest in the Japanese culture. Now I am 12 and am immensely interested in the Japanese language and culture still. I highly encourage you to buy this book. I love it soooo much!!! Domo Arigato Gozaimasu.

This is a wonderful book with a good message about the value of inner strength as opposed to external size. The pictures are great and the rhyme scheme throughout the story adds a lot. My 2nd grade students want me to read it again and again!

I love the books by Charles Reasoner (and so does my toddler) they are unlike any other because each one is packed with things to discover and have excellent illustrations. Each page has the mice doing various different things and it's fun to point to a mouse and ask "what is this one doing", and then it becomes a game. We also love the fact that the story rhymes and is interactive without batteries! (PS I bought this at Wal-Mart for around $3!).

This book is a great idea and well executed. First, the illustrations are fantastic! Very bright and cheery and incredibly cute.

The story is also very cute. It follows the story of the woman who lived in a shoe with far too many children, only in this case it's a family of mice. The story explains how the baby mice don't help with any of the chores which isn't very nice to the mommy mouse. The mom talks to her kids and sets some rules, then the shoe stays clean with everyone's help and the baby mice can still have fun even though they're now helping to clean. The story moves very quickly with only a few lines of text per page. Everything rhymns which makes it flow even faster.

Of course the big feature in this book are the cutout pages. As you read one page, there are little windows that let you look at the next page to see what's coming. My 19 month old daughter loves to use these cutouts to help turn the pages. This is a very cute story that's very ell presented.