The 1925 Newbery Award Winner, Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger, is a collection of folktales that Finger collected during his travels in South America.
Though the tales are almost always strange, I enjoyed this book because I like reading the stories that different cultures tell in order to explain their world. This book was also nice because each chapter is a story that stands alone, so it was easy to put down and then come back to later--even while reading other books (still chipping away at Smokey the Cowhorse...).
My favorite tale was "El Enano." An old woman takes in what she thinks is a baby, but is really an evil monster who demands to be fed more and more food, until the entire village is spending all day gathering and cooking food to keep him at bay. Animals play a prominent role in many of these tales, and in "El Enano" a fox helps the old woman and the village outsmart the monster.
Not every young reader would enjoy this book today, but I do recommend it for children and adults who enjoy learning about other cultures and people--with a little bit of the fantastical thrown in.
Only one book left.
No comments:
Post a Comment