It's Not About the Diamonds!

Gr 2–4—Three school friends tell a series of folktales across cultures. However, these students seem much too mature for activities like show-and-tell. The rough black-and-white drawings, which are not of high quality, show them as middle school age. While the easy-to-read format makes the selections accessible to beginning readers, they omit the richness and subtlety of quality folklore. These books beg the question of whether it is better to share folklore in any format, regardless of quality, in order to make the stories accessible to younger readers. Eric Kimmel and Margaret Read MacDonald, just to mention two, offer picture-book versions of folktales that are easy to understand, rich in text, and handsomely illustrated so that children can be introduced to the best in folklore as opposed to the easiest for independent reading. In addition, many collections contain stories from different cultures, linked by similar elements, without an unrealistic and forced staging in order to connect the folktales across the cultures, while highlighting the common elements.—Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City