Advanced Children's Literature: Traditional Tales

Ragan, Kathleen, editor. OUTFOXING FEAR: FOLKTALES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.

Recent Aesop Prize winner Kathleen Ragan is compared in Jack Zipe's introduction to Scheherazade from "Thousand and One Knights" as she seeks to end the fear that has gripped the world since 9/11. Zipe notes that the last chapter is not written in this book, there is no final fairy tale ending, that we must write it ourselves. Ragan's frame tale is best personified to me by a short tale from Persia about a third of the way through the volume, "The Frightened Fox." Ragan seeks to recisitate and challenge us with old tales from a myriad of cultures to be more introspective and cautious before acting, not fearful, but careful. The tales are heavy on Celtic tradition but feature many from Native American Culture, Asia, Australia, Ukraine, Africa, New Zealand, and others. "The Maiden Who Lived with the Wolves" is a personal favorite. Because the wolves cared for and fed the Maiden who was mistakenly left behind, the Sioux People of North America learned the lesson of the wolves and began hunting not only for themselves but also for widows, children, and elders who were unable to hunt for themselves. Marty Blake's cover art of the most ominious looking fox in memory standing atop a high leaping flames of fire under a full moon sets the tone for the book. A noble project and affecting book similar in purpose to "Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs." Useful for humans of all ages and persuasions.