Scan barcode
balletbookworm's review
4.0
A very (VERY) comprehensive collection of folktales and fairy tales from nearly every culture on the Earth - all focusing on the strengths and intelligence of women/girls. A bit hard to read straight through because the stories start to feel repetitive but very nice to read in twos and threes.
queenpebbles's review
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
siriuslyloveyou's review
3.0
The tales are very interesting but not always written well. I also didn't always agree with the comments of the author.
jacquelynjoan's review
I lost this book in a house fire and haven't purchased a new copy yet. Might eventually.
mlottermoser's review
3.0
This book is best read in small doses. While it covers a wide range of stories from various parts of the world, it doesn't cover all areas. Better maps and descriptions of how the stories were assembled would have been helpful by each story instead of at the end. I enjoyed the introduction but feel like literature has come a ways since this book was written. As a mom, I'd love to share some of these strong female stories with my kids.
jailala's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
The stories collected in this are excellent and I greatly appreciated the author attempting to keep as much of the original as possible as cultures are and have been different from each other and so then have their stories. However, I only found some of the authors musings relevant to the stories they were attached to. That being said it is still a useful read.
firerosearien's review
4.0
A lovely collection that would make a great gift to any girl, I just wish there were more included from the Americas, Africa, and southern Europe.
emiged's review
5.0
Amazing collection of just over 100 folktales from all over the world where women are the heroes. In most of our culture's well-known fairy tales, women too often play either a passive role or embody only negative qualities: the damsel in distress or the evil stepmother. Ms. Ragan has gathered an immensely valuable anthology with examples of women and girls cooperating with each other, protecting and rescuing their loved ones, solving difficult problems, demonstrating bravery and intelligence, and actively affecting their world.
Organized geographically into six sections (tales from Europe, North and South America, Asia, the Pacific, Sub-saharan Africa, and North Africa and the Middle East), Ms. Ragan provides a wide variety of stories, some familiar, some with familiar elements, and some entirely new (to me at least). I'm not even going to attempt to pick out my favorites; there were far too many!
I would recommend only reading a few stories at a time. Sitting down to read them all in one fell swoop just makes them run all together instead of preserving the unique feel and qualities of each.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Organized geographically into six sections (tales from Europe, North and South America, Asia, the Pacific, Sub-saharan Africa, and North Africa and the Middle East), Ms. Ragan provides a wide variety of stories, some familiar, some with familiar elements, and some entirely new (to me at least). I'm not even going to attempt to pick out my favorites; there were far too many!
I would recommend only reading a few stories at a time. Sitting down to read them all in one fell swoop just makes them run all together instead of preserving the unique feel and qualities of each.
For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
hhamza94's review
5.0
It was a great change reading about folktales around the world that did not show the usual "princess getting saved by her prince".