Product Description

Find out how a monkey gets the better of a crocodile, how an unassuming spider helps her community when all of the stronger animals fail, and how a rabbit is rewarded for making a special sacrifice. Each of the stories in this collection features different animals and each comes from a different culture. Funny, exciting and thought-provoking, Naomi Adler's retellings reflect her mastery of storytelling. Amanda Hall's beautiful and playful illustrations and borders capture the traditional motifs of each culture. The anthology combined with our new Animal Tales Audio Book CD makes a distinctive gift for animal lovers of any age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40367 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 4-Nine retellings of stories from an equal number of cultures. In an afterword, Adler explains that she traveled around the world collecting stories, and that most came from storytellers; no written sources are credited except for the Native American tale and one from the Grimm brothers. The book is well designed with handsome borders and illustrations appropriate to each tale; there's a fine feel to the paper. The retellings show attention to detail and move along in a cadence that is easy to follow and suggestive of traditional storytelling. Individual stories are no more than eight or nine pages in length and include Thai, Chinese, Indian, Canadian, and Australian folktales-also "African," and here's a minor quibble-diverse African nations are not named; "The Monkey's Heart" comes from Kenya. The stories share common themes: selflessness, sharing, and trust. In that sense they are teaching tales, almost moral lessons. A few, however, follow a typical pourquoi pattern. Although not an essential purchase, this collection could supplement folktale collections.
Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. Storyteller Adler retells nine animal tales from around the world, including a Cherokee story from North America, an African pourquoi tale, and an old favorite from Germany, "The Musicians from Bremen." Each tale in this entertaining and varied collection is beautifully illustrated with lighthearted, colorful pictures that add just the right visual touches without overwhelming the story. Adler has collected these tales mostly from other storytellers, as she explains in brief source notes. A lovely collection that will appeal to listeners and readers alike. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"The illustrations are full of intricate details, and the animals and people depicted have a range of expressive features, sometimes humorous." --Junior Bookshelf

A celebration of animals is offered to us on this fine book of nine stories from countries including India, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Germany. Written in a lively, fun-to-read style and would make a good addition to a storytelling session, country or culture project, or a unit on legends and folktales. The full color illustrations are well done and nicely picture the story. The borders on each page are done in styles to fit the culture from which the story comes and add to the appeal of the book. This volume will enhance any collection. --Library Media Connection

The illustrations are full of intricate details, and the animals and people depicted have a range of expressive features, sometimes humorous --Junior Bookshelf

Customer Reviews

Fabulous book, beautifully illustrated with excellent CD's!
We LOVE the line of books published by Barefoot books. This one is no exception. The stories are clever and uncommon. My girls love to hear these over and over. The CD's are well narrated and are fun for listening to by the fire or in the car. I like having the option to read the book myself (which we do the most often) or listening to the CDs. I highly recommend this charming book.

A really nice book
This is a really great book. I must not have read the product description carefully,so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that, included with the book were the stories on CD! What a great addition. The CD is very pleasant to listen to. The illustrations are beautiful and coordinate with the stories from different origins. What a lovely way to introduce young ones to different cultures. My daughter really enjoys the stories and choosing stories from different places in the world.