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A review by aclopez6
The Girl Who Married a Skull: and Other African Stories by Kel McDonald, Kate Ashwin, C. Spike Trotman
5.0
CW: magic (witches), potions
This is part of a series of "Cautionary Fables & Fairytales", with each short story having a message or key takeaway. I would recommend that patrons check out the other books in the series if they enjoyed this one -- The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories, The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Stories, and Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories.
This book was shelved in the YA graphic novels section at my local library, but it is accessible to younger audiences as well. I would recommend this for grades 5 - 12.
Some of the stories were recognizable to me from picture books and short stories I read growing up, such as "Anansi Tries to Steal Wisdom" (why spiders have eight legs/are venomous), "Why Turtles Live in Water", and "Queen Hyena's Funeral" (hyena laugh). Others were ones I had never heard of, and a part of me wished that more cultural context or information about the origin of each story was included. There were short bios about each illustrator in the back of the book, but the book left me wanting more. Some highlights from the book: "Chief 5 Heads", "The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull", and "The Girl Who Married a Lion".
This is part of a series of "Cautionary Fables & Fairytales", with each short story having a message or key takeaway. I would recommend that patrons check out the other books in the series if they enjoyed this one -- The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories, The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Stories, and Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories.
This book was shelved in the YA graphic novels section at my local library, but it is accessible to younger audiences as well. I would recommend this for grades 5 - 12.
Some of the stories were recognizable to me from picture books and short stories I read growing up, such as "Anansi Tries to Steal Wisdom" (why spiders have eight legs/are venomous), "Why Turtles Live in Water", and "Queen Hyena's Funeral" (hyena laugh). Others were ones I had never heard of, and a part of me wished that more cultural context or information about the origin of each story was included. There were short bios about each illustrator in the back of the book, but the book left me wanting more. Some highlights from the book: "Chief 5 Heads", "The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull", and "The Girl Who Married a Lion".