Customer Reviews

Tales from the Story Hat

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Mrs. Aardema was a great teacher, she shared her stories from this book with her class of first grade students while she worked on collecting them. She really did have story hats, depending what kind of story she was about to tell depended on which hat she would put on. Re-reading this book as brought back the many lessons and good times I recall from first grade in Mrs, Aadremna's class and her special stories and her hats!

Mrs. Aardema's storys are always about the lessons of life. What an enjoyable and memorable way to remember these great lessons.

This is a collection of retellings of nine traditional African folk tales, mostly originating in east and west Africa. The stories include trickster tales, such as "Tricksy Rabbit" and "Nansii and the Eagle," as well as fables that explain the origins of weaving in "Wikki, The Weaver" and the (reverse) evolution of apes and monkeys from humans in "The Prince Who Wanted the Moon." The stories have morals in praise of ingenuity and generosity and warning against greed, treachery, and pride. The language is straightforward and filled with lively dialog. The stories are short enough (5-8 pages in length) for bedtime reading for younger children and unassisted reading by older children. The text is accompanied by black and white pencil drawings of people and animals, most half- or full-page, with two dramatic scenes that stretch across two pages. The animals are sometimes represented as realistic, with naturalist-quality detail, but more often are cartoonish, with expressive faces, bringing the fantasy world of the fables to life. The drawings of people show the same attention to form and character. An introduction (by now quite dated), as well as useful explanatory source notes and a glossary of African terms and expressions accompany the stories. This is an excellent collection of stories for both children and adults.