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bardicbramley's review
2.0
- this book was on my summer reading list for Uni -
I'm not particularly sold on this one unfortunately. I get the intention, and I definitely think that classrooms need more of what this book tried to do: a good diversity of stories geographically and culturally, and a different understanding of what a hero really is.
However, compared to some other books of traditional tales that I've read that also did the same thing, I found this particular collection to be a little underwhelming.
It's representation was limited, the 'different' heroes weren't convincingly portrayed (it would be almost entirely up to the teaching to provide this context), and the writing style wasn't as clear or enchanting as others I've read.
I did enjoy a couple of the stories enough to possibly use in future though:
'Shahrazad the Storyteller' was my favourite. If all the stories had been like this one I would have been much happier. The strong female lead, the moral, and the redemption of the villain all worked well together to offer a story for children to really think about.
'The Legend of Hua Milan' was well written. This story is a little more well known, so I think holds a lot of potential to be written in a much more gender-explorative way, but I did also appreciate the simplicity of its moral and subtle but firm feminist approach in this retelling.
And 'Hanuman, Demon Fighter' was also a great epic tale for children to enjoy. I do think it tried to push a /lot/ of detail into a story short enough to fit with the others, which could lead to a lot of confusion and questions from children. So I would encourage any teacher using this to fully research the story, and maybe make a topic of learning out of it, its origins and it's morals, rather than a one off story. (I also particularly loved the artwork on this one!!)
I'm not particularly sold on this one unfortunately. I get the intention, and I definitely think that classrooms need more of what this book tried to do: a good diversity of stories geographically and culturally, and a different understanding of what a hero really is.
However, compared to some other books of traditional tales that I've read that also did the same thing, I found this particular collection to be a little underwhelming.
It's representation was limited, the 'different' heroes weren't convincingly portrayed (it would be almost entirely up to the teaching to provide this context), and the writing style wasn't as clear or enchanting as others I've read.
I did enjoy a couple of the stories enough to possibly use in future though:
'Shahrazad the Storyteller' was my favourite. If all the stories had been like this one I would have been much happier. The strong female lead, the moral, and the redemption of the villain all worked well together to offer a story for children to really think about.
'The Legend of Hua Milan' was well written. This story is a little more well known, so I think holds a lot of potential to be written in a much more gender-explorative way, but I did also appreciate the simplicity of its moral and subtle but firm feminist approach in this retelling.
And 'Hanuman, Demon Fighter' was also a great epic tale for children to enjoy. I do think it tried to push a /lot/ of detail into a story short enough to fit with the others, which could lead to a lot of confusion and questions from children. So I would encourage any teacher using this to fully research the story, and maybe make a topic of learning out of it, its origins and it's morals, rather than a one off story. (I also particularly loved the artwork on this one!!)
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