Children of Wax: African Folk Tales [Paperback]

Alexander McCall Smith (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These recently collected tales are emphatically not children's pabulum: they are full of danger, violence, and death. There is a near-obsession with food and water, hunger and thirst. Although anthropomorphic animals and other supernatural elements figure here, they are taken for granted. The dominant note is a vivid--even stark--realism. Behaviors most strongly condemned in the narratives are fickleness, foolish trust, greed, and overreaching, but selfish and even treacherous acts sometimes go unpunished. (One story describes a cruel revenge worthy of a 16th-century melodrama.) There is an apparently unironic account of the evolution of baboons from humans. While folktales from West Africa are familiar to many, this collection may give greater currency to the traditional tales of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe.
- Patricia Dooley, Univ. of Washington Lib. Sch., Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

One of two collections initiating the ``International Folk Tale'' series. These 27 stories, collected in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, and briskly rendered from the author's own transcriptions, are evocative, involving narratives that reveal much about the culture from which they spring. Both this collection and The Sun Maiden and the Crescent Moon (Siberian folk tales as told by James Riordan) include introductions discussing the role of folk tales in their respective societies and retell some of them with authenticity as the principle priority. Thus both books are of primary interest to storytellers rather than to children, though older children will find much that is interesting and original here. A secondary purchase for children's use; a treasure trove for all those who value folk literature presented with respect and scrupulous care. (Folklore. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (April 13, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862412250
• ISBN-13: 978-0862412258
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,927,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alexander McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He is now Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has written more than fifty books, including a number of specialist titles, but is best known for The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has achieved bestseller status on four continents. In 2004 he was awarded British Book Awards Author of the Year and Booksellers Association Author of the Year. He lives in Scotland, where in his spare time he is a bassoonist in the RTO (Really Terrible Orchestra).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living Tales, May 15, 2006

By 

Bill Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children of Wax: African Folk Tales (International Folk Tales) (Paperback)

Children of Wax (1989) is a collection of African folk tales. These stories were obtained on two widely separated trips among the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, who are descended from an offshoot of the Zulus. There are certain similarities to the tales of neighboring tribes. These tales often include a moral, but are essentially designed to entertain an audience.

These stories are about animals that talk and about people who can be swallowed by animals or quicksand, yet survive. Several tales are about the tricky hare who outsmarts the lion; in America such stories were told about Br'er Rabbit. Other tales tell of tricky Guinea fowl, baboons, strange animals and even humans; the tricky humans, however, usually found themselves to be losers at the end.

The author seems to have captured much of the native mode of story telling in these folk tales. These stories also have a simplicity and phraseology that should be very familiar to fans of Precious Ramotswe and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Some of this style must be inherent to the author, but much has to be adopted from the people themselves.

This collection contains twenty-seven folk tales. These stories, with thirteen others, are also included in a more recent collection: The Girl Who Married a Lion.

Highly recommended to fans of McCall Smith and to anyone else who enjoys exotic folk tales of strange yet familiar lands.

-Bill Jordin