A Forest Of Stories
Grade 3-6-In reworking these folktales, Singh has made the stories gentler and prettier but less pithy. The selections, each immortalizing a different tree, are presented in a literary form without traditional beginning and ending phrases such as "once upon a time." In place of the simple language of the original tales, the reteller has provided rich stories embellished with much detail that sets the locale with descriptions of clothing, food, and surroundings. In updating the tales, however, there have been some substantive changes. A foolish boy who steals the fruit of a magic tree is turned forever into a part of that tree in the traditional story. In this adaptation, he is set free when the tree is moved to mercy by the tears of the maiden who tempted him to steal the fruit, and thereby a treacherous and foolish deed goes unpunished. A traditional tale in which turtle tricks the townspeople and receives just punishment is changed to a story of a boy, with a tortoise and a monkey as sidekicks, who fools the townspeople and receives a merciful reprieve. Again, wickedness goes unpunished. The beautiful watercolor, graphite, and collage illustrations greatly enhance the text. Each story is prefaced by a framed illustration of the tree with gracefully printed information about it. Charming borders and lovely paintings result in a pretty package, but the tales lack the integrity of their roots.Marlene Gawron, formerly at Orange County Library, Orlando, FLCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.