Wisdom Tales from Around the World

by Heather Forest

Overview

Winner of PLA/ALLS Best New Books for New Adult Readers and the Storytelling World Award

This collection of fifty folktales and parables was selected from diverse story traditions such as Sufi, Zen, Taoist, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, African, and Native American. Comprised of ancient plots both poignant and comical, this anthology contains simple truths, common sense, and the promise that we can benefit from past generations' wisdom and experience.

By metaphorically suggesting constructive strategies for living, these ancient tales resonate with a universal appeal. "The characters in these stories may gain wisdom by observing a good example or by bumbling through their own folly," Heather Forest observes. "I hope these stories will provide discussion and offer insight into joys, sorrows, fears and farce of human experience." Wisdom tales offer useful insights into life's joys and sorrows that all of us experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874834796
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/15/2005
Series:	World Storytelling Series
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.56(w) x 11.15(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Heather Forest Bio:

Heather Forest's unique minstrel style of telling stories blends her original music, folk guitar, poetry, and prose along with song and the spoken word to give her stories an uncommon warmth and charm. She has toured widely performing her repertoire of world folktales for the past thirty years to theatres, major storytelling festivals, schools and conferences throughout the world. Heather's books have received many prestigious awards including the Children's Choice Award, Parent's Choice Award, CCBC Choices, ABC Best Books for Children, Best Children's Books of the Year, Book Sense Winter Children's Picks, and the National Parenting Publication Awards (NAPPA) among others.

Heather is currently working on her tenth book with August House, a collection of ancient and epic tales. Ms. Forest holds a Master's Degree in Storytelling and she is a recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award presented by the National Storytelling Network. Her many performance credits include The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., The National Storytelling Festival, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Tales of Graz Festival in Austria, the Sidmouth International Festival in England and the Glistening Waters Storytelling Festival in New Zealand.

Editorial Reviews

For long winter nights Those who get fed up with holiday cheer can turn to darker entertainments with the ghost stories of Haunts: Five Hair-Raising Tales by Angela Shelf Medearis, illus. by Trina Schart Hyman. The lively stories, several of them set in Texas, feature a spell-binding fiddler, a dancer who won't stop and a talking cat. The swirling, shadowy black-and-white illustrations add a mildly spooky edge. Storytelling of a more uplifting nature is offered in Wisdom Tales from Around the World by Heather Forest. Culled from such diverse traditions as Taoist parables, the Panchatantra of ancient India, the Bible and European folktales, the 50 entries, says Forest in an introduction, "pass down homespun wisdom encased in stories." The tales are often no more than a few paragraphs in length, and rarely more than two or three pages.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

YAForest retells folktales, proverbs, and parables in a thoughtful and satisfying style that amuses as it deftly imparts lessons for living. While the stories are often universal, they reflect their cultural and religious roots. The explanatory notes for each section and tale add insights for better understanding. There are times when keeping one's mouth shut can literally save one's life, as in "The Talkative Turtle." "A Flock of Birds" tells what happens when we fail to cooperate with others. "How War Was Ended" is an inspirational peace tale. This collection is too good to sit on the 398.2 shelves. It contains sources and has applications for classes in creative writing, multicultural studies, sociology, ethics, world civilizations, and for Sunday School. Although the format and cover seem geared to younger readers, the subtlety in many of the stories is right for YAs. They will see that under the seemingly simple surfaces of the tales lie deeper layers to plumb.Judy Sokoll, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal