Reviews: South and North, East and West: The Oxfam Book of Children's Stories

This review first appeared in Publishers Weekly.

   As Whoopi Goldberg explains in a brief introduction, most of the 25 tales in this eclectic, energetic collection have been told by people served by the organization Oxfam, which funds self-help development projects in 77 locales in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. With Rosen's able editing, the orally transmitted tales make a smooth transition to the written word, often preserving the regional dialect and depicting the customs and culture of the country of origin. Equally diverse as the entries is the work from an impressive group of 22 illustrators. Art ranges from Reg Cartwright's stylized paintings for "Mansoor and the Donkey," a North African tale of a wise donkey who helps a fellow win the hand of his beloved; to Charlotte Voake's jaunty cartoons of the monkey who outsmarts two other animals in "Dog, Cat and Monkey," an Indonesian fable; to Janet Woolley's singular, sophisticated collages for "Good Morning," a rather bland story from Bangladesh of a prince convincing a princess to marry him. Oxfam will receive all royalties from this worthwhile compendium. Ages 4-up.

Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The following review was first published by School Library Journal.

   Grade 3-5-- An offering of 25 retold folktales illustrated by 25 well-known contemporary illustrators, produced by Oxfam, an organization promoting self-help programs in countries throughout the world. Despite the obvious talent behind it as well as the good intentions, the book is not a strong introduction to the various cultures represented. Lacking careful notes on sources or any apparent attempt to retain the flavor of the original (as in Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Lippincott, 1981 or Hamilton's The People Could Fly , Knopf, 1985), each story remains the product of one voice, not many. There is no indication for readers that life in other places is different from their own. Full-color pictorial explorations of the plots enhance each piece's scariness, humor, or mystery. Whoopi Goldberg writes in the introduction that ``You'll feel part of the whole world rather than far away from the countries in the book.'' But only if you think the whole world speaks colloquial English.

Reviewed by Kathleen Whalin, Belfast Public Library, ME.