CM Magazine: Telling Tales on the Rim: Folk Tales from around the Pacific Rim

________________ CM . . . . Volume I Number 14 . . . . September 15, 1995

Telling Tales on the Rim: Folk Tales from around the Pacific Rim
Naomi Wakan.
Victoria, B.C.: Pacific-Rim Publishers, 1995. 143pp, cloth, $21.95.
ISBN 0-921358-21-0.

Subject Heading:
Tales-Pacific Area.

Grades 4 - 7 / Ages 9 - 12.
Review by Elinor M. Kelly.

What better way to learn about the people of the Pacific Rim than by hearing their folk-tales! The author has collected and illustrated thirty-four such tales and retold them in an easy, colloquial style.

There are stories of how things began, animal stories, tall tales, and repetitive ones; all brief and amusing. The Canadian items are three tall tales and a story from the Gitksan people.

The note accompanying each story encourages discussion of the moral lesson and the culture concerned. A book-list and a glossary are included.

There are other, more literary and scholarly versions of this sort of story for the serious teller, but these are all easy, lively, and simple to read or to learn and tell, and are great for classroom use.

Highly recommended.

Telling Tales on the Rim: Teacher's Guide
Naomi Wakan.
Victoria, B.C.: Pacific-Rim Publishers, 1995. 37pp, paper, $9.95.
ISBN 0-921358-22-9
Review by Elinor M. Kelly.

A teacher's guide to the above collection of stories. The writer feels that there is no better way for students to understanding community living, moral dilemmas, and behaviour, or to expand a child's imaginative powers, than through folk-tales.

For each story in the Telling Tales anthology, there is a brief synopsis, suggested readings, a discussion of the issues raised, ideas for original writing and drawing, and all kinds of activities of the best "think globally, act locally," sort. And throughout there is a strong concern for right and wrong -- something children think about a lot.

How useful teachers' guides are depends on the individual (and the budget!). Some teachers are more inventive than others. Some need ideas to help get them started; some are pressed for time to do research beforehand. This guide will serve anyone who needs the help well. (Permission to photocopy activity pages for individual classrooms is included.)

Recommended.

Elinor M. Kelly is a retired librarian who lives in Port Hope, Ontario.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - September 15, 1995.