Book Review: Cinderella from around the world

Wilson, Barbara Ker (retold by). WISHBONES: A FOLK TALE FROM CHINA. Ill. By Meilo So. New York: Bradbury Press, 1993. ISBN 0027931250.

According to the book jacket, this story is the oldest version of Cinderella. It has a motherless girl, a clueless but loving father, a wicked stepmother and stepsister, and a magical being that sends the heroine, Yeh Hsien, to the Cave Festival after her stepmother has made sure she stayed home. There is a lost slipper and a young king who searches for the slipper’s owner in order to marry her. Since this is an Oriental tale, though, the story varies slightly from the European version. The magical being that sends our heroine to the Cave Festival is not alive. Instead, it is the bones of Yeh Hsien’s pet fish which the stepmother killed for dinner, and Yeh Hsien fished out of the dungheap and wished upon (the “Wishbones” of the title). There is also an extra twist at the end. Instead of living happily ever after, Yeh Hsien’s husband uses up all the magic and the Wishbones stop granting wishes. Yeh Hsien and her husband bury the Wishbones in the beach where they are washed away into the sea, and the formulaic ending is “They have never been found to this day.”

From the very first lines, we know that this story took place “thousands of years ago,” and this is driven home when we learn that the people live in caves. The text and illustrations show a primitive society, with water drawn from “a mountain pool,” and Yeh Hsien being sent off “into the hills to gather herbs.” Transportation is by horse and wagon, even if the horses are decked out in finery. At the Cave Festival, Yeh Hsien is blinded by “the lights of a hundred lanterns.” All of these add up to a long ago time and place.

Meilo So’s illustrations add depth to the story, as we view the cave in which the family lives and the fine clothes of the stepmother and stepsister vs. the heroine’s patched and ragged jacket. So’s pictures of the magic Wishbones occur over and over, and in brilliant red and blue colors that jump off the page at us. On the very last page, not only does the text tell us that the Wishbones have lost their magic, but they have also lost their bright colors - the skeleton is only bleached white now.

This version of the age-old dispute between daughters and stepmothers has its normal assortment of archetypes. We have the innocent child, symbol of all that is good. We have the bully, symbol of all that holds us back from what we want or desire. Finally, we have the magical being, the Angel archetype, who answers our prayers or wishes (Meta Religion).

The story of Cinderella/Yeh Hsien has a global theme. If we live a good life, we will earn our reward despite what obstacles or people try to stop us. This universal theme is why so many diverse cultures have their own versions of a Cinderella story.

Reviews:
Dr. Judy Rowen (Children's Literature)

A Chinese folk tale, this is one of the oldest versions of the Cinderella story. Vibrant, colorful paintings enhance the story.

Jan Lieberman (Children's Literature)

This is a picture book version of the Chinese Cinderella. The title refers to the magic fish who is cruelly killed by Yeh Hsien's stepmother but the girl discovers that those bones will grant her every wish. The illustrations depict the text yet provide room for children's imagination. This is a good version for primary grades.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1993)With the help of magic fishbones, Yeh Hsien, the Chinese Cinderella, dresses herself in finery to attend the Cave Festival. The inadvertent loss of her slipper results in her marrying the king. Rich in color, humor, and authentic details, So's brilliant illustrations give the old tale a refreshing and effective interpretation.

Connections:

Show your students some other international versions of Cinderella. See if they can identify the common characters and elements in each story. Keep a chart or write their answers on the board for them to see as they go through the different versions.

Sources:

Meta Religion. 2007. “A Gallery of Archetypes.” Accessed June 27, 2009 from http://meta-religion.com/Psychiatry/Analytical_psychology/a_gallery_of_archetypes.htm

Book Review: Daniel San Souci

San Souci, Daniel. IN THE MOONLIGHT MIST: A KOREAN TALE. Ill. By Eujin Kim Neilan. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press, 1999. ISBN 1563977540.

In this Korean story, a humble woodcutter saves a deer from hunters. In return, the deer tells him how to find a heavenly maiden to marry. It instructs the woodcutter to hide her clothes when she bathes in the moonlight to keep her earthbound. But the deer also warns the woodcutter to not give her clothes back until their second child is born. The woodcutter and the maiden marry and have a child, but the wife becomes homesick for heaven. To make her happy again, the woodcutter gives his wife her heavenly clothes back. The heavenly clothes possess the wife. She grabs their baby and returns to heaven. In despair, meets the deer again. This time the deer tells him how to get to heaven to rejoin his wife and daughter. Out of filial love, the woodcutter sends his mother to heaven instead of himself. The heavenly king hears about the woodcutter’s generosity and lets the woodcutter come to heaven where he joyfully rejoins his mother and family.

There is no overwhelmingly ‘bad’ character in this tale. The woodcutter and the heavenly maiden both at times do things that are wrong, such as the woodcutter hiding the maiden’s clothing, or the wife taking the baby back to heaven with her. But they love each other. The wife and her husband both work hard and care for the husband’s mother. In short, the 2 main characters have both human flaws and strengths. There is also a strong good character, though. The heavenly king makes a very short appearance to reward generosity and kindness. There is a universal theme at work here. No good deed goes unrewarded. The heavenly king, or whatever deity or power we believe in, will award us ultimately for our kind acts toward others.

Daniel San Souci maintains the traditional storyteller flow of this tale by telling his story through dialogue primarily, with over half of the text being dialogue. The dragon at the end of the story is a specifically Asian motif, since Asian dragons, unlike European dragons, bring good fortune and good luck. There is also the internationally traditional magic being who grants a wish in return for a favor.

In some rural areas, Koreans still wear the same traditional everyday and dress outfits as in this story, which makes it timeless. The landscapes are also ordinary. Combined with the text, however, Eujin Kim Neilan portrays uniquely Asian settings. The mother’s cook pot, the yard outside the couple’s house, the son’s devotion to his mother, and the rocks rising out of the water are all poignantly Asian. Even the dragon who conveys the woodcutter to heaven is painted as a Korean dragon. Having personally lived there for a few years, I experience a sense of homesickness for Asia when I view Neilan’s paintings.

Best Books:
Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K-Grade 6 13th Edition, 2002 ; National Council of Teachers of English; United States

Reviews:
Jeanne K. Pettenati, J.D. (Children's Literature)

"The timeless message in this beautifully told story is that God, the "heavenly king," watches over all of us and that those who live for others will ultimately find joy. The illustrations are finely wrought. Faces are quite expressive; some haunting in their sadness. Hands are prominent in the illustrations--reaching, caressing, holding and explaining. The book's universal story is filtered through Korean eyes. It provides a window into the Korean culture and sensibility."

Janice Harrington (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 1999 (Vol. 52, No. 8))

"The lengthy narrative opens with an extended introductory subplot, but the pace is fairly rapid, and patient readers will be carried along by the magical and romantic elements. Neilan’s acrylic paintings are a strong inducement for readers. The subtle tension between warm and cool colors and the balanced choreography of double-, two-thirds, and single-page spreads combine with eyecatching points of view and compelling compositions to provide a strong sense of movement and drama. Human and animal figures are well-drafted and realistically expressive; brush strokes, almost scraped across the illustrations, add texture and depth. Jacket notes refer to the story as “ancient” and “one of Korea’s most beloved,” but no specific sources are provided."

Connections:

1. Have a Korean tasting party, Kimchi (pronounced kim-chee) is similar to sauerkraut. Bulgogi (pronounced buhl-go-gee) is similar to a sweet beef teriyaki. Mandu are Korean dumplings, similar to wontons or pierogi. Make sure that the children take only a very small portion of the kimchi, since this dish can be very spicy. All 3 of these common dishes can be purchased from Korean restaurants. Making kimchi is a very complicated and time consuming process, mandu only slightly less complicated, but bulgogi is easy to make in a home kitchen.

2. Yut is a very popular Korean board game. If possible, find a version of Yut and have it and the rules available for your students. For more information on Yut, see this website.

Book Review: Horse Hoovers and Chicken Feet: Mexican Folktales selected by Neil Philip

Philip, Neil, editor. HORSE HOOVES AND CHICKEN FEET: MEXICAN FOLKTALES. Ill. By Jacqueline Mair. New York: Clarion Books, 2003. ISBN 0618194630.

This book is a collection of traditional Mexican folktales. Neil Philip, the editor of this anthology, collected these stories from Mexico, Colorado, and New Mexico. Like Mexico, these stories owe a large part of their origin to tales from Spain, which in turn can be traced back to Moorish tales such as the Arabian Nights. The Endless Tale is a direct descendant of Scheherazade and her “One Thousand and One Nights.” Although many of the stories share themes with other folktales from around the world, these folktales have a uniquely Mexican twist to them. Mexican folktales have 2 special characteristics: 1) the ever-pervasive background presence of Roman Catholicism, and 2) Just like African folktales, these tales are filled with tricksters and storytellers.

Since Mexican culture is steeped in Catholicism, the traditional characters in these stories are Catholic – instead of a fairy godmother in the Cinderella version (The Two Marias), you have the Virgin Mary. In The Priest Who Had a Glimpse of Glory, the main character is a Catholic priest. Pedro the Trickster bargains with the Lord, St. Peter, and the Devil. As well as Catholic concepts, Mexican folklore contains many strong female characters. Death is portrayed as female. The protagonist of The Brave Widow is a mother who fights Judas, king of the underworld, for the sake of her son’s future. And in The Endless Tale, it’s the girl who tells the boy what to do to win her father’s contest.

The stories have very little in the way of setting. They take place in ‘a house,’ ‘a cantina,’ Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory, ‘the plaza,’ ‘the ship,’ and other very broad, general locations. The action could really take place anywhere, so the setting is irrelevant to the plot.

These stories have universal themes. In the title story, Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet, the theme is being alert since you never know where you’ll find evil. Other stories illustrate the theme of good ultimately conquering evil. There’s a Mexican flavored theme in Pedro The Trickster, of how persistence can win you heaven. In the story, The Priest Who Had a Glimpse of Glory, the theme is God’s might is more powerful than us puny mortals. It reminds me of a a story in a German book of my mother’s from when I was a child, of a monk who falls asleep in a garden one afternoon while reading the Bible. When he wakes up, a thousand years have passed because he was reading 2 Peter Chapter 3, verse 8 when he fell asleep: “But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Jacqueline Mair’s illustrations don’t add to the stories, but instead complement them. Almost every page number is accompanied by a red chili pepper. There are motifs of animals, dancers, cacti, Mexican feasts, traditional Mexican clothing, the sun and moon, and Día de los Muertos altars. They highlight the Mexican flavor of this anthology. Just like traditional Mexican folk art, the colors are bold and bright, and the drawings are primitive.

In his introduction, Philip explains how most of his stories came from storytelling sources. As such, the sentences are short and to the point, while packed with action. The Devil, magic, witches, and bargaining are prevalent elements throughout the stories. Unlike European traditional literature, the traditional opening of Mexican folktales is “Once there was a ____” or “There once was a ____.” During the course of the story, these phrases repeat themselves to introduce new main characters. However, each story ends differently, without a closing common statement such as “They lived happily ever after.”

As tales transcribed from storytellers, these tales can be read by both adults to children or by the children themselves. Some of them will be familiar, some will not, but all of them will be enjoyable even if you’re not of Mexican descent.

Best Books:
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2004 ; Bank Street College of Education; United States

Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, Supplement, 2004 ; H.W. Wilson; United States

Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006 ; H.W. Wilson; United States

Children's Literature Choice List, 2004 ; Children's Literature; United States

Notable Books for a Global Society, 2004 ; Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association; United States

Notable Children's Books, 2004 ; American Library Association-ALSC; United States

Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2004 ; National Council for the Social Studies; United States

Awards, Honors, Prizes:
Aesop Prize, 2003 Winner United States

Storytelling World Awards, 2004 Honor Storytelling Anthologies United States

Reviews:

Todd Morning (Booklist, Oct. 15, 2003 (Vol. 100, No. 4))

"…A solid collection that may also find an audience among readers who are older than the target audience. "

Joanna Wiley (Children's Literature)

"As Hispanic culture weaves itself into the American landscape with an ever-increasing saturation, this book of Mexican folktales proves to be a vibrant addition to the folktale genre to which children today are so rarely exposed. Philip has created a wonderful book that not only offers its readers an enjoyable fantasy experience but also insight into the imagery and symbolism utilized within the Hispanic community. While children may be familiar with the basic types and motifs of some of the stories in this collection, such as boy-eating giants, evil step-mothers and wicked witches, the overall presentation and detail included within these rich texts exhibit a distinct Hispanic flair. Particularly, the use of religious imagery proves to be a prevalent motif throughout the book. Mair’s illustrations are exceptionally alive with rich color and illumination. Her depictions of familiar Hispanic images such as the Lady of Guadalupe, the open-mouthed devil and even the chili pepper further enhance the cultural connections of each of these stories. At the end of the book, Philip provides details of each story’s origin and history."

Elizabeth Young (Children's Literature)

"Here is a delightful smattering of folktales from our neighbor to the south. These Mexican tales are enhanced by the exuberantly colorful illustrations of Jacqueline Mair, which are crafted cleverly enough to conceal details of each folktale. While it is evident many of these folktales are based on the country's solid Catholic faith, one needn't be Catholic to enjoy them, though it probably helps. "The Priest who had a glimpse of Glory" and "The two Maria's" are prime examples of their religious foundation. The title of this work refers to the symbolism for witches as described in the tale of the same name, blending deceiving beauty and attractiveness with evil and the demonic. Following the tales are notes on each story, complete with AT number classification. The notes include what source these folktales were taken from and any title variations. Though written for nine-to-twelve-year olds, folktales are ageless and appropriate for every age. Come and partake of another tradition and experience the wealth of another culture."

Connections:
1. After reading the stories and seeing Mair’s illustrations, have your students illustrate one of these stories. Provide bright pastels, construction paper, and scissors.
2. Bring a piñata in to your class or library. Clear the desks away from the center of the room and let the kids take turns blindfolded trying to break it open.
3. Have your students either perform Readers' Theatre or take turns telling one of these stories in their own words.