Fantastic Folktales

Purpose

I read two fantastic collections of folktales this week, and the first one was Trickster: Native American Tales edited by Matt Dembicki. According to the editor, a Native American anthology of trickster tales did not exist previously, and he wanted to learn about Native American culture, which he didn't know much about. Therefore, he created the first graphic anthology of 21 native trickster tales written by Native American storytellers. All of the tales are connected because they have trickster characters in the stories that are rabbits, coyotes, wolves, or other creatures. 

Authority

All of the folktale authors are Native Americans from various tribes hand picked by Matt Dembicki. The folktales were passed down orally from generation to generation based on the contributor notes. For example, John Active is one of the re-tellers who is a Yup'ik Eskimo based in Alaska, and his grandmother use to tell him traditional Yup'ik bedtime stories. 

Dembicki, M. (2021). Trickster: Native american tales: A graphic collection. Chicago Review Press.

Style

The narrative style is preserved in these folktales as the stories are told in the first person point of view. In The Bear Who Stole the Chinook, the narrator states, "The snow came early and lay deep. The cold blown bitter made the women weep. Our men tracked hard but could find no game. In our children's bellies were crying' pains." In addition to the first person narrator, the language used demonstrates that these stories are being told rather than written. The phrase "cryin' pains" is used in of hunger pains. 

Audience and Organization

As a former middle school language arts teacher, I think the most appropriate audience for this collection is sixth grade and above. The middle school age group appreciates the comic book panel style of the stories. I would use these folktales in a read aloud and projected on a whiteboard for the entire group to follow along with the illustrations. Each story can be read independently as they do not depend on one another for meaning.  

Illustrations

Each of the stories has a different illustrator and many of the illustrators are Native American. The illustrations are integral to the stories as in Raven the Trickster, which bring the tale to life. Some of the images are traditional as in When Coyote Decided to Get Married and others are much more of a cartoon style like in Mai and the Cliff-Dwelling Birds. 

Purpose

I also read Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada. The 12 tales in this collections were shared with the authors as children by their grandmothers, and some of the tales were discovered while researching for this book. The author's purpose for sharing these folktales is to celebrate Latino culture, maintain a written record of these traditional tales, and provide entertainment for the audience.

 

Ada, A. F., Campoy, F. I., Davalos, F., Guevara, S., Torres, L., & Escriva, V. (2006). Tales our abuelitas told: A hispanic folktale collection. Atheneum.A

Authority and Style

It is clear to me that the folktales are authentic stories and originated from Latinos. In fact, in the source notes for The Bird of One Thousand Colors, Alma Flor Ada explains that she credits her grandmother, a storyteller, as the oral informant of this folktale. The authors make it very clear that these tales were passed to them orally, and they do sound like they are being told. For instance, in The Castle of Churchurumbe, the verse begins with "This is the key, large and strong, that opens the door of the castle of Churchurumbe." This free verse recreation of the folktale sounds very much like the nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built, which would be said out loud.

Audience and Organization

The intended audience for this collection are children ages 5 through 11 based on the animal illustrations and larger font in the book. The collection would be fun to read aloud to young children, and I am sure that they would be entranced by the animal characters and enjoy the short length of the stories as younger children have shorter attention spans. The authors included "To Begin a Story" and "To End a Story" sections in the book to explain how these folktales traditionally begin and end in Spanish with English translations. All of the tales can be read independently and don't rely on one another to make sense. 

Illustrations

Finally, the illustrations in the book definitely enhance the stories, and I think that stories without illustrations allow children to imagine in their own minds what the characters look like, the settings, and the action taking place in each story. The images in this book are more decorative and are not integral to the tales like they were in Trickster. However, the pictures are reflective of the Latino culture as shown on this page with the traditional hats, scarves, and woman's dress.