My mom told or read me a good night fairy tale or fable almost every night when I was little -- mostly from the Brothers Grimm's collection, but also those by Hans-Christian Andersen and Wilhelm Hauff. I generally preferred the Grimm tales over Andersen's, chiefly because they could be relied upon to have a happy ending (which is also why witches and evil giants didn't scare me one bit there -- I knew their ultimate purpose in the narrative was to be vanquished by the hero(ine); whereas in Andersen's tales that wasn't a given, and if the ending was sad, it was very sad indeed). The stories I liked best, though, were those by Wilhelm Hauff: many of them were set in oriental or otherwise exotic settings in the undifferentiated "past" and were mischievously funny -- and those that had sad or serious aspects reached me much more forcefully than Andersen's.
As I said in another post, fairy tales and fables also made for the first audiobooks I owned, in the form of vinyl records that I learned to play way before I had reached elementary school and "reading" age.
(Task (Zuñi & Hopi / Native American): While systems of written symbols and communication already existed with the Pre-Columbian Native American cultures, to many tribes even today (including the Zuñi and Hopi) the oral tradition is still important. Have you ever had stories told to you (e.g., as children’s bedtime stories, or at night during a camping vacation)? Or if you haven’t, try to imagine a “storytelling” situation you’d like to experience?
Stand outs in this group are
12 Days of Great White Christmas - parody of the 12 days using sharks. It includes a fact section at the end. It's quite well done and fun. 5 stars.
Diaries of a Dragon - I wasn't sure about this one, but the artwork and the story match each other pretty darn well. It was sweet. 3.5 stars
Once Upon and Ever After - most likely the best of this batch. 5 stars. It deals with how the prince is affected by sterotypes as well as princesses.
What the Fox Learnt - pretty good retellings of Aesop tales about foxes. Three stars.
Champ and Nessie - actually makes good use of Nessie and Champ to teach about earth history. 3 stars
Sun and the Moon - good retelling of the Korean tale. 3 stars
Sophia and the Popcorn Dragon - a bit too cute, but woc so that was cool. 3 stars.
Unicorns, Magic and Slime -predictable but fun. 3 stars
Dollhouse Elf -(not pictured) not bad, predictable.
To be missed
The farting book - the whole thing about dad working around in his boxers was a bit strange.
I Spy - the word scarf is missed spell.
With the exception of Mosque, I picked these up for free.
Mosque is good, and if you have read the author's other books, it is like those.
Be Brave! Be Bold! is actually pretty good and is about famous Latinias. While I know the book is intended for a young audience, there could have been a bit more in the bios about the women at the end.
The Little Horse is a Christian story about a horse who was present at Christ's birth. It is actually one of the better ones. It reminded me of Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey or the Little Drummer Boy Christmas shows.
The Aesop Box Set contains a few fables, but the illustrations are good. It's nice.
Mama Daycare is a sweet book that presents the fear of going to school for the first time in a different way. It was cute.
The Perfect Potty Book is extactly as advertised.
Arial Chef - not the best, but the bits at the end about how to make Sushi were nice.
Big Splash - good if you like Dinos
It's Not Easy Being Unicorn and Kaulele the Fairy Tern are the best two. Wonderful story about unicorn that you can see being adapted by Pixar. Interesting story about a bird.
Nice variety of Aesop's Fables paraphrased for small children. Each has a moral. Each story is simply done with illustrations to go with it. I loved looking at the drawings as there is a lot going on in them. I especially enjoyed the modern additions to them. Look closely at the illustrations because they are fun. Lots of little things to find in them. |