Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book One

Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book One:  (Bk. 1)
Kindergarten-Grade 3--Fifty years after its initial publication, Sakade's compilation of popular Japanese folktales (in English) has been dusted off and prettied up for this new, third edition. Filled with now-familiar favorites, such as "Peach Boy" and "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow," along with lesser-known yet equally delightful tales, such as "Mr. Lucky Straw," this enduring collection presents 20 stories to enchant and enlighten young readers. Several of the tales can easily be compared with traditional Western counterparts: the main character in "Silly Saburo," for example, mirrors the follies of "Lazy Jack." Although a few of these tales have been made into fully illustrated picture books, this collection is greater than the sum of its parts. Minor text revisions have little effect on the stories, for the most part. "The Ogre and the Cock" has become "The Ogre and the Rooster," a "blue goblin" has been made over to green, and a formerly dead cat has been resuscitated and upgraded to merely "smelly." The text remains simple, clear, and accessible to beginning readers and storytellers alike. The "sparkling new color illustrations" are simply Kurosaki's original stylized scenes, repainted in bright dabs of watercolor.
Hardback, 112 pages. English only.