AND THE GREEN GRASS GREW ALL AROUND
Schwartz, Alvin, ed. 1992. AND THE GREEN GRASS GREW ALL AROUND. Illus. by Sue Truesdell.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN: 0060227575.
Alvin Schwartz has put together a delightful collection of folk poems, rhymes, nonsense
verse, riddles and songs that are fun to read and fun to tell. Who among us has not taunted friends with "Sam and
Joan sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G" substituting our friends' names to tease them over a school age crush? This and
many more recognizable and maybe not so recognizable childhood rhymes are found here. Divided into subjects (including
School, Teases and Taunts. Wishes and Warnings and many more) it is easy to locate a favorite. This book will appeal
to young readers who will be drawn to easily remembered and funny rhyming phrases as well to the older child and adult
who will enjoy seeing old favorites they may still find themselves repeating (It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring...).
Some of the rhymes are commonly used as warnings (...Leaves of three, quickly flee, Poison Ivy) or are common farming
folklore (Corn knee-high, By the Fourth of July and Ring around the Moon, Rain is coming soon). This book is a classic
that will be pulled out again and again. It should be on every family's shelf.
THE FROG PRINCE CONTINUED
Scieszka, Jon. 1991. THE FROG PRINCE CONTINUED. Illus. by Steve Johnson. New York:
Viking. ISBN: 0670834211.
And so they lived happily ever after, or did they? Jon Scieszka
takes a tongue-in-cheek look at life for the Frog Prince and his princess after the famous kiss. He misses his life at the
pond and she hates the way he always sticks his tongue out, his croaking snore and how he always hops around on the furniture.
She thinks he should get out of the castle and slay a dragon once in a while like regular princes do, but he does not want
to slay anything, he wants to run away. Yes, that is it, run away back to the pond, back to his life as a frog.
So the Frog Prince sets off on his quest to find a witch who will turn him back into
a frog and along the way encounters several fairy tale witches, who offer to do horrible things to him but not turn him back
into a frog. Finally a fairy godmother tries to help but the transformation he receives is not what he wanted, or was it?
This humorous parody on the Frog Prince fairy tale will delight children and adults alike. The poor underdog (Or is it
underfrog?) can not please his princess so he takes off for a fast-paced adventure to find his happily ever after, after all.
Evil witches threaten to put evil spells on him but he triumphs in the end. The dark but humorous illustrations supplement
the tone of the story. The Frog Prince, dressed in a rich green, snaps his tongue at the dragonfly wallpaper and evil witches
read Hague magazine and cast spells with remote controls. Many surprising and refreshing asides can be discovered in the artwork.
Overall this is a high-spirited and magical story that teaches readers that the grass is not always greener down by the pond.
YEH-SHEN: A CINDERELLA STORY FROM CHINA
Louie, Ai-Ling. 1982. YEH-SHEN: A CINDERELLA STORY FROM CHINA. illus. by Ed Young.
New York: Philomel Books. ISBN:039920900X.
In the dim past, even before the Ch'in and Han dynasties, a daughter named Yeh-Shen
was born to one wife of the cave chief, Wu. A second wife also delivered Wu a daughter but this daughter did not have the
beauty and goodness of Yeh-Shen causing much jealously from her stepmother. When Wu and Yeh-Shen's mother die from illness,
she must go to be brought up in her stepmother's home where she was treated harshly. Yeh-Shen had no friends except for a
beautiful fish with golden eyes, which she fed with crumbs left from her own measly meals.
When her stepmother learns that Yeh-Shen has a hidden friendship she kills the fish and cooks it for dinner. Yeh-Shen is
overcome with grief when an old sage comes to her with the bones from her fish and tells her that whatever she may ask of
them, they will provide but she must use them wisely. The spring festival arrived, the time when all young men and women decide
who they will marry, but Yeh-Shen is forbidden to go by her stepmother. Yeh-Shen goes to the bones and asks for clothes that
are suitable to go to the festival and her wish is granted but the spirit of the fish warns her not to lose her golden slippers.
A hasty exit causes her to lose one slipper. The spirit no longer communicates with her, is it because she lost the slipper
or is the fish's work done?
This tale has all of the qualities of good traditional literature, Yeh-Shen is the heroine, good and beautiful, while the
stepmother is jealous, ugly and embodies evil. The magical spirit of the fish aids Yeh-Shen and helps her overcome evil while
the stepmother and stepsister meet and untimely end. The beautiful watercolor artwork in this book brilliantly uses the fish
as a spirit that is ever present in Yeh-Shen's world. There is a mystical quality to the artwork that helps to create the
mood for this Chinese folktale.
ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON
Kimmel, Eric A. 1994. ANANSI AND THE TALKING MELON. illus. by Janet Stevens. New York: Holiday House.
ISBN: 0823411044.
Anansi the spider sat in a thorn tree and watched as Elephant hoed in his melon
patch, a patch full of ripe, juicy melons that called "Come eat us!" to the spider, who was much too lazy to ever grow his
own. He waits for Elephant to leave then lowers himself onto the biggest, ripest melon. Using a thorn, he makes a small hole
in the melon, crawls in and eats then eats some more until his belly grows too big to squeeze out of the tiny
hole. While waiting to become skinny again, he decides to play a trick on Elephant, by making him think the melon can talk.
When Elephant returned, Anansi begins to talk to him and Elephant is amazed that the melon can talk and makes plans to
take the melon to the king. Elephant meets friends along the way each who hear the magical talking melon and want also to
take it to the king. When the melon insults the king he throws it and Anansi far away, bursting the melon and freeing Anansi,
who sets out to eat again.
In this West African trickster tale Anansi the spider outsmarts the gullible Elephant
and teaches the reader that foolishness can cost you the fruits of your labor. After all, who but a fool would believe in
a talking melon? The characters are simple with the large animals embodying the negative gullible trait while Anansi portrays
the sneaky but wiser figure. The simple tale bodes well for oral storytelling and the bright illustrations emphasize the lure
of the melons, show the naivete of the animals and reflect the playful mood of the story.
