Fiesta Femenina: Celebrating Women in Mexican Folktale, retold by Mary-Joan Gerson and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Barefoot, 2001) is a vibrant collection of stories which all feature strong women as their main characters - but it’s not just a book for girls. The stories are perfect for reading aloud and boys will listen just as raptly! I can see “Tengo hambre” (I’m hungry) becoming a well-used phrase in our house-hold, after listening to “The Hungry Goddess”, an exciting creation myth.

There are other goddesses:Tanga Yuh, who visits the town of Tehuantpec in the south of Mexico every New Year’s day; and Serpent Goddess, whose love for her daughter saves her from the enchantment that has turned her into the “Green Bird”. Then there’s the story of Blancaflor, the devil’s daughter, who saves Pedro from the pact he has entered into with her parents, El Diablo and La Diablesa. There is also “The Virgin of Guadalupe”, which tells the beautiful story of the Holy Virgin’s appearance to Juan Diego, telling him to go to the Bishop and tell him to build a church on top of the hill of Tepeyac and that she would protect the Indians of Mexico for ever.

My personal favorite is the story of “Why the Moon is Free”, in which the Moon tells her suitor the Sun that before he can marry her, he must make her a gift of beautiful clothing, which must fit her exactly… of course, it never does. I love the way the Sun says “¡Ay, mi amor! Love has stolen your appetite. You are looking so thin.” and then later “Ay, mi amor, you have gotten a little plump” Poor Sun, he simply cannot get the size right! The illustrations here, as indeed throughout the book, are gorgeous - colorful and expressive.

At the end, sources are explained and there’s a glossary and pronunciation guide - both very enriching and useful (some of the names, like Quetzalcóatl and Tezcatlipoca, are quite challenging!); and there is a Spanish edition available too.

While reading A Girl Named Disaster, I found there were questions that I wanted to discuss with other readers and I hope some of you feel the same way. Your questions will probably be different from mine, and I’m eager to know what they are.

Nhamo is a storyteller and this book is punctuated with the folktales that she has learned and loves. Do these stories strengthen or weaken Nhamo’s own story?

Who is Long Teats and what does she mean to Nhamo?

Is Nhamo’s relationship to the baboons, especially Rumpy, disappointing? Would a different relationship be more appealing?

Nancy Farmer is noted for the length of her novels. Is this particular book well-served by its length or could it be more effective if it were shorter?

A Girl Named Disaster has three distinct segments of Nhamo’s story and some readers are disappointed with the third segment. Is the ending strong enough to provide a satisfying completion to the novel?

Let’s talk!

Good literature promotes literacy. Reading to children promotes literacy. Promoting a love of books through the example of reading promotes literacy. And sharing a story together, at the end of the day especially, offers a moment of harmony and oasis in family life, which sometimes has to be safe-guarded from the encroachment of action-packed schedules. So all in all, a bedtime story is a win-win scenario, whichever way you look at it!

It can, however, be a daunting prospect for some parents, so today on Books at Bedtime I’d like to focus on two resources which offer parents some tools to help make storytelling a joy for all concerned.

The first is the Storytelling Bibliographies page on The Center for Children’s Books’ website. These booklists encompass stories from all over the world which make great readalouds, arranged by themes such as Phases of the Moon, Tales about Fools, Latino Folktales, Native American Tales… The links to Storytelling Websites offer rich scope and I especially like the process advocated here for using a book as a springboard for someone to tell a story; and for listeners then to extend that storytelling experience. Such activities will lead children to love books and to love words themselves… the next generation of storytellers and writers?

And the other resource is Australian writer Mem Fox reading extracts from her book Reading Magic – her web-page And Do It Like This offers a step-by-step guide to reading stories aloud to children. She also has her 10 Read Aloud Commandments – here’s number 10 :

Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

And you can hear her putting all these hints and pieces of advice into action herself, reading three of her stories, including her avowed favorite Koala Lou: and she reads them beautifully.

Narrative forms have the potential to inspire, sustain and heal us, and traditional folktales have a special healing magic for children. Witch and monster stories like Baba Yaga and Heckedy Peg show how to get through the dark woods of life and suggest that there are helpful beings along the way. Kelly Herold (of Big A littlea) writes on “Baba Yaga Heads West” in the September issue of The Edge of the Forest. The Elves and the Shoemaker illustrates the practice of generosity. Talking Eggs, a traditional Louisiana Creole Cinderella tale, demonstrates the eventual triumph of good over evil. In the Uncle Remus stories, underdogs like tar baby and the rabbit outfox the scary fox himself. Native American coyote tales offer tales of connectedness with the natural world. In our stress-filled lives, these stories provide steadying information and wisdom.

For folktales from Asia, search the wealth of the PaperTigers website, or go directly to interviews with authors like Debjani Chatterjee and Demi, who have written stories based on folktales. For faves of Asian kids, here’s a review of a collection of folktale retellings. And for Hispanic folktales, check out Tales Our Abuelitas Told.

PaperTigers welcomes your feedback about this important form of literature for the child within each of us.