Customer Reviews

Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I loved the idea of this book, and I gave the book 1 star for the idea. I was anxious to purchase it for my daughters when I found it in the library. I am very glad we were able to borrow it and I didn't buy it. I feel portions of this book are inappropriate for children of any age. These stories could easily have been told without adding so much disturbing imagery to them. One example is in "Fitcher's Bird" where we find, "The tub was filled with the cut-up bodies of dead girls, who stared at her with sightless eyes." This is not an image I want in my own mind, much less that of my little girls. In "The Girl and the Puma," the author states, "Some turned to cannibalism, devouring the flesh of those people who had died before them." In "Burd Janet," a central theme is a person being "sacrificed to hell." In Mizilca, a young woman disguises herself as a man and at the end of the story, "she turned around and opened her shirt, so that there was left no doubt in the Sultan's mind that she was indeed a young woman...and beautiful." Not the type of behavior I want modeled for my daughters.

Another issue is specific to certain girls and is rather picky, but adoptive parents should be forewarned. Our younger daughter was abandoned at birth in China before we adopted her, and I came across many references that would only be harmful to her. I would give a very strong warning to parents of children with abandonment issues, as this is a central theme of several of these stories. We love the Chinese story, "Li Chi Slays the Serpent" and have read excellent retellings of it. However, in this version, the author writes (unnecessarily, in my opinion),'"Dear parents, since you have brought forth six daughters and no sons, it is as if you were childless. I am nothing. I am the sixth nothing in this family." (For in those days girls were considered of no value in a Chinese family.)' This would not be edifying to any abandoned Chinese girl. In "Atalanta the Huntress", `Iasus, a cruel, unfeeling man who took his newborn daughter into the Calydonian forest on the far borders of his kingdom. There he put her down on the forest floor saying, "I wished for a boy, and this is what I got. I will not have you."' In "Molly Whuppie," "There were a man and a wife who had...too many children, and they could not feed them all. So they took the three youngest and left them in the deepest part of a dark and tangled wood." (All three of whom happen to be girls.) I certainly can't read these stories to a child who repeatedly asks me, "You'll never leave me all alone, will you?"

Although Jane Yolen is an excellent story-teller (her descriptive language and easy dialog make for a very fun read), I didn't enjoy this collection as much as I might have.

The book begins with an "open letter" to the author's daughter and granddaughters which contains quite a good summary of the various women warrior-types throughout history and throughout the world and hints at sources where you can find more information. However, she also makes several alarming statements that colored my reading experience.

First, she states that stories about heroic women have been "hidden... disguised... mutilated... truncated." Now, I'm not a scholar of folklore, or even an avid reader of it, but even I was familiar with many of the tales she included in her book. So I feel that Yolen may have been a bit over-dramatic on this point.

Another alarming statement is her explanation of why she only uses the term "hero" even though her protagonists are female--"Because heroines... sound like lesser or minor heroes, just as poetess and authress sound as if they are not as good as their male counterparts." This sentence caught me by surprise, since, as a woman, I would take no more offense at being described as an authress as I would at being described as a "chica" rather than a "chico" in a Spanish class. Using a specialized word such as "heroine" simply allows more clarity if it better suits the purpose of the author.

At any rate, I felt that this letter revealed the author to be super-sensitive to feminist issues and perceives her gender to be attacked at any hint of a difference between men and women. The letter was flavored with a bitterness that presented the book almost as a revenge against men rather than a valuable collection to be enjoyed.

That being said, I couldn't help but read Yolen's stories without a heightened sensitivity to issues of male vs. female. Here's what I found...

First out of the gate is "Atalanta the Huntress" which begins like this: "There was a king named Iasus, a cruel, unfeeling man who took his newborn daugter into the Calydonian forest on the far borders of his kingdom. There he put her down on the forest floor saying, 'I wished for a boy, and this is what I got. I will not have you.' Then he turned and left." Lovely. Here I'm thinking, "Gee. Jane Yolen really hates men." But there's more! Later in the story, Atalanta seeks help from the royal court. There all the "heroes" ignored her. One says, "Who is this mere girl who would hunt with heroes?" Even the prince, who agrees to take her along on the hunt, is only sizing her up as a potential wife.

The second story begins by describing a tall, strong man who also happened to be ugly. Very ugly. His daughter is also tall and strong, but she is also beautiful and smart. Hmmm..... Later when the daughter offers to help fight the evil hippo, the ugly man refuses, echoed by his hunter pal, "You are but a female... this is too dangerous a thing for a mere girl."

In the next story the man kidnaps young girls and cuts them into pieces. In the next story the man ties the woman to a tree, exposed to the elements and the wild animals because she disobeyed his orders. In the next story, the authorities (presumably men) ask the brave young girl who is volunteering to try to kill a giant serpant plaguing their village, "What can you, a mere girl, do that ten men could not?" And so on...

Sure, these same character types are in countless folktales and legends. But placed in the context of the author's introduction, they take on a whole new potency of evil. It's as if Yolen is trying to teach the reader by repitition that men are unfeeling, men are untrustworthy, men are dangerous...

The final nail in the coffin was Yolen's choice to include the ending part of the story, "Atalanta the Huntress." In it, Atalanta challenges each of her many suitors to a foot race. The first suitor to defeat her wins Atalanta's hand in marriage. We've all heard the story... the suitors never even have a chance, so strong and swift is Atalanta. But finally, one wily suitor tosses golden apples on the path before her and, as Yolen says, "Atalanta could not take her eyes off the golden fruit. She desired it above all things. Stooping down, she picked it up. And [the suitor] passed her by." As far as I'm concerned, this is a huge jab at women--a statement that women are fickle and unstable, ruled by their passions and incapable of overcoming obstacles. Why in the world would Yolen choose this story for a book she wrote to liberate the "disguised" and "mutilated" heroines--I mean, heroes--of world folklore?

The high point of the book is the section of notes at the end. Yolen explains where she found the stories and what parts she changed as she rewrote them. This, and the bibliography, allows for further research and perhaps a more objective look at the tales as they have been passed down through the ages.

In conclusion, I feel this potentially thrilling collection is extremely devalued by the author's political intent. If you are looking for a great collection of stories with strong female protagonists (but without the anti-male didacticism), I recommend "The Serpent Slayer and other stories of strong women" by Katrin Tchana. This volume celebrates the differences between the genders, which I feel is far more empowering and constructive than forcing women to live up to--or out-do--a standard set by the actions of men.

Jane Yolen has struck in the gold yet again with this collection of folktales starring clever, brave, daring, courageous women from all over the world. There is a lovely poignancy in her introduction and in the response from her daughter and granddaughters, showing how absolutely right she is to revive these stories, to sing out these tales that celebrate the power of women through the ages. Like Ms. Yolen, I too was Robin Hood and Arthur when I was a girl, desperate to play the hero and not knowing any heroic women to model myself on. Well, my sisters, here they are, a grand selection of them, Atalanta and Bradamante, daring Princesses and bold, clever wise women from many cultures. Their stories are all told with the sure and lilting voice - or voices, for she is a wildly talented writer and able to make each tale ring with its own cultural music - of a trusted modern bard. Thank you, Ms. Yolen, for giving new life to these tales with your consummate artistry.

Jane Yolen fans hungry for female heroes will be sorely disappointed by this collection. The "heroic" deeds in many of these stories are pointless. The epic tone and flat characters make for dull reading. The stories are drawn from diverse cultures, but so many details are left unexplained that we are left with a pageantry of exotica. None of the heroes feel like real people with whom girls can identify. The 1 star is awarded to Yolen's introductory comments about girl heroes and her granddaughters' letter of response.

This is an excellent collection of stories featuring clever, adventurous heroines. some of the stories were already familiar to me, like Burd Janet and Molly Whuppie, but others I'd never read before, like The Pirate Princess, and The Samurai Miaden. Unlike previous reviewers, I didn't find the stories either boring or too violent. the stories come from a wide variety of different cultures, but all feature enterprising, strong heroines. This book should appeal to any girl who would like to read about less passive heroines than Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc.

I really liked this book because it tells stories about girls who made a difference in their communities. Ms Yolen has done an excellent job in retelling these folk tales. Each story can be read-a-loud and the illustrations are great. It teaches girls to stay cool and use their brains. Everyone who reads this book will enjoy it.

I have read a lot of folklore - my undergraduate degree was in folklore, basically. Her stories do diverge from the stereotypical male-hero stories.
In her other books, Jane Yolen has shown respect to males and given males the chance to be heroes, so the extreme feminism the previous reviewer claimed to have seen seems sought for. In the light of this collection, Jane Yolen obviously did an introduction discussing the fact that such heroines were not widely spread stories in our culture. Her saying this doesn't mean she's starting a feminist extreme group or expecting people (children!) to read these stories with feminist concerns.
These stories are geared towards the child who likes fantasy a bit - perhaps the regular Harry Potter fan. Children who found it boring will probably be more enthralled with a mystery or historical fiction story.

Oh, Lordy. I've always felt a little ambiguously about Yolen's writing ability (and common sense) and this book finally pushed me over the edge. Her " open letter" is painfully preachy; I literally winced. (I also don't know what she's talking about, because I've heard most of these folktales before her compilation.)

I am just as much for the equality of the sexes- AND the genders, an important distinction I think she ignores- but this was just so overbearing, and inaccurate. The message seems to be: Women are equally valuable because they can/could be just as formidable in battle??? This feminist is not at all comfortable with that. It was also disturbing to me that her story choices are almost all about women warriors. Killing people is not what I want either my daughter or my son to be known for. Overall a big disappointment.

It is interesting that in both this retelling and in her picture book retelling of the "Tam Lin" legend, she leaves out the crucial point that the main female character (whose names varies) is more or less taken advantage of by Tam Lin (and rescues him when- and because- she is pregnant with his child.) There were- and are- some valid reasons for offering women and girls more protection from the world, such as that all too common one.

I was looking for a specific book (one that I had read 10+ years ago) and this was not it. The stories were interesting but not amazing. It's a good book to have and I plan on keeping it for when I have children.

This book has a great title, but that's about it. My 10 year old daughter thought the stories were boring. We were very surprised by the amount of violence in these stories, and cannot recommend the book for that reason.