When the World Began: Stories Collected in Ethiopia (Oxford Myths and Legends) - Hardcover

Laird, Elizabeth

3.88

25 ratings by Goodreads

9780192745354: When the World Began: Stories Collected in Ethiopia (Oxford Myths and Legends)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0192745352 ISBN 13: 9780192745354

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

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The classic stories of our childhood--"Cinderella," "The Sleeping Beauty," Little Red Riding Hood"--exist only in books today, but they started their lives as oral tales told from one generation to the next. In Ethiopia, however, great treasuries of fairy tales still live in people's heads and have never been written down. Old people sit together in the evenings and tell each other stories that were already old a hundred years ago.
Elizabeth Laird--a winner of the Reader's Choice award and the Children's Book award--spent two years traveling around Ethiopia and collecting the tales in this anthology. She was told stories by Muslims in the hot, dry deserts of the East; Christians from the cool, central Highlands; and people from even older religions from the warm, humid South. The different faiths and cultures are reflected in the stories, with their varying notions of God, heaven, and the spirit world. You will enjoy the funny stories with a twist, the exciting adventure stories of brave warriors and hunters, the clever stories of cunning and trickery, along with stories about ogres and kings and merchants and farmers and animals.

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About the Author:

Elizabeth Laird is a high profile, award-winning author who has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and has won the Smarties Young Judges prize.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6-Twenty pourquoi tales, myths, and extended jokes paint a picture of a vibrant culture, open to the world around it. The title story tells how people stole the gift of dominance from God's favorite creature, the buffalo, and is followed by selections that explain such things as how the tortoise got her shell, how one might best depose a tyrant, and how arrogance and pride are answered. Some stories are reminiscent of Aesop and some of Perrault. The fluid recountings read aloud or tell equally well. Folktale enthusiasts who prefer to read their stories will find the tales extended by the work of four artists. Deep-hued oil pastels and jewel-toned watercolors have a sense of volume and heft, while the realistic pen-and-ink vignettes that accompany some endings add reality and grounding. Other stories are illustrated with cut-paper cartoons, accentuating their humor. This well-rounded collection could be used with multicultural offerings like Virginia Hamilton's In the Beginning (Harcourt, 1988) or as a springboard for Ted Hughes's slightly more sophisticated and tongue-in-cheek Tales of the Early World (Farrar, 1991). A solid addition to most folktale collections.
Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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