Customer Reviews

The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Women

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In The Serpent Slayer And Other Stories Of Strong Women, Katrin Tchana artfully retells classic folktales from around the world which showcase strong women overcoming a diversity of daunting obstacles and fearsome challenges. These wonderful tales include The Barber's Wife; Nesoowa and the Chenoo; Clever Marcela; Sister Lace; The Rebel Princess; Beebyeebyee and the Water God; Kate Crackernuts; The Old Woman and the Devil; The Magic Lake; Grandmother's Skull; Three Whiskers from a Lion's Chin; Duffy the Lady; and the title piece, The Serpent Slayer are all spectacularly illustrated by the talents of Trina Hyman. These very highly recommended, multicultural stories of courage, cleverness, perseverance, and endurance are thoroughly entertaining, even as they hold forth splendid values and possibilities for their young readers as they live their own lives and overcome whatever obstacles or solve what ever problems they encounter while making their way through the world!

At last! A series of stories from around the globe written by a mother and daughter team all about female heroes (not heroines, mind you, but heroes.)

Featured in these pages are all kinds of women who are plucky, smart, resourceful, brave and just plain smart. This is just the sort of anthology to give to your daughters, to inspire and help them conquer their own life adventures. A very satisfying read for girls of all ages.

In recent years, many collections of "empowered female" fairy tales have sprung up. This book simply happens to be one of the best. There are not many tales, but they are well-chosen, and the versions selected for publication are enjoyable to read. Stories from Africa, Asia, and Armenia (among the many locales) are every bit as accessible to the young American reader as more familiar English and Scottish tales. Hyman's illustrations are, as always, powerful, colorful, evocative, and fascinating--and the editorial comments are exceptionally good. This is a storybook with pictures, but it is very well researched, and the brief explanations of the chosen texts are scholarly, appropriate, and well-documented.

The reading level and subject matter make it appropriate for girls around 10-14; most stories would read aloud well to younger children, but there is no censoring here, and parents who feel squeamish about the verbally graphic dismemberment of a dragon or unwed/extramarital pregnancies would do well to proof their selections. That said, sex and violence are by no means a focus of the collection, nor are they emphasized in illustration. Children flipping through the pictures will not find anything objectionable. Girls who enjoy the novels of Patricia C. Wrede and Robin McKinley will find themselves at home; those new to folk collections will be hooked. If only they were all this good.

Highly recommended.

In this day and age, young girls are bombarded with not-so positive images of midriffs, barbies, and some rather unwholesome popstars. The "Serpent Slayer" offers a refreshing change of perspecitve. This book is a collection of tales from around the world, retold in an up to date, easy to understand and yet beautifully written format. The stories are specifically about strong, clever women. The illustrations are excellent and the main characters are uncompromising. The tales have classic fairy tale plots; dragons, thieves, mythical gods, and lions (oh my!). At only a couple pages each, a story can be read aloud in a reasonable amount of time, making them perfect for bedtime. Although I recommend this specifically for girls, I am sure children of any gender and age would be equally enthralled. I know I was! Buy this book! We need more like it.

This fabulously illustrated, enlightening story book is interesting to children of all sexes: in fact, I've given this twice as gifts to boys and they are as entertained by the tales of these heroines as they would have been by Robin Hood or St. George.

I liked the artwork in this book, the stories were interesting, though I get the idea that the serpent represents venomous liars in world mythology, and slaying it teaches some moral intelligence, sometimes I have reservations about using animals to represent them, because killing animals is nothing like killing an evil trait in a man, or woman. Animals are innocent and incapable of moral decisions, or escaping their cruel fate of how they are created and programmed, so killing them is bad karma and in stories seems a mixed bag to give to kids. Still, if you explain what it means, the stories are awesome. The illustrations are beautiful, I would definitely read this to kids and explain the animal issue carefully. I loved the story about the lace weaver, the illustration to that was perfect. All of them are good, they are like folk tales where the girls learn to do things, use ingenuity to save the day. It reminds me of the old stories like Ruplestilskin etc... except with a little more action for more action-oriented young women. There's racial diversity and it generally has a great vibe to be treasured.

I love fairy tales, and have read hundreds of collections. This one is one of the best. My five year old is as fascinated as I am by the gorgeous illustrations and well written, rarely told tales. They are from diverse cultures, featuring powerful women of many colors.

There are some fun amazing stories! This book is not for younger readers. It looks like it could be but there are some very adult stories in this book. Beautifully written and the pictures are great!

This book of tales is full of strong images of clever women making these tales fun and lively. The stories are not only for girls but have plenty of dragons, pirates and devils to stimulate every child's imagination.

I would not care for this book. That is why I only gave it four stars. After reading the first story, I think if you have a daughter who is sensitive and does not care for violence you should look elsewhere for a book for her. My son really enjoys it though, which is good as I bought it for him. The illustrations are beautiful as they should be in a children's book and the stories, though short, are able to develop character better than most modern children's books do.