Katrin TchanaRessenyes

The prose is lackluster, but Trina Schart Hyman's illustrations are gorgeous, as ever.

I enjoyed this book. It is so cute that a little boy named Toto loves to eat and he eats everything in the market with his grandmother. It has a mix of English and another language used by Cameroon people in the book. There is a lot of repetition when the grandmother catches Toto eating. Cute book can read to younger children.

Little Toto loves to eat, and when he goes with his grandmother to the marketplace he eats everything in sight, leaving chaos in his wake. Includes a glossary of Cameroonian foods and a recipe for egussi soup.

The Sense Pass King is a traditional folktale from Cameroon. Ma'antah was an extraordinary child and the people in her village thought she was very clever, with more sense than the king. So they called her the "Sense Pass King." she was only four-years-old. The King was very jealous and tried many ways to get rid of her. But each time she succeeded in thwarting his efforts. She helped the people in the village and over the years she became very popular, but the king was not happy. Then he made her come and live in the palace to control her. But she gave him advice, and when the king followed this advice, the villagers were happy. On a voyage across the see, she saves the king and the people on the boat by killing a monster. When they returned, the king told the villagers that he was the hero. His soldiers told the people the truth, and Ma'antah recevied the recognition she deserved.
A note from the author at the end of the books, says that her husband heard this story growing up from his mother. The original character was a boy, but the author decided to make her a girl to encourage girls to be brave and clever. The illustrations are done by Trina Schart Hyman. She uses bright watercolor images to depict the characters in the story and the setting in Cameroon. The culture and people in the images seem to be represented authentically.

A compilation of myths about women goddesses or heroes from a variety of cultures. Each woman is beautifully illustrated at the beginning of the story.

This is a fantastic collection of goddesses and their stories. Changing Woman in particular is a creation myth that teaches us that the world is about change, rebirth, and renewal. In each tale of the collection we learn about what the culture surrounding the tale cares about. For Changing Woman, there is an emphasis on respecting the awesome power of nature, living in peace with others, and being ready to adapt when necessary.

The mixed-media illustrations by Hyman are very creative. In the artist's afterword she explains how she tried in earnest to elicit the goddesses' energy through her work.

This collection would be useful to have for reading to students in class. It could be used as a cultural reference for lessons that touch on the cultures within, or it could be read from more randomly. In either case, the class might be prompted to begin a meaningful discussion on the values conveyed.

Changing Woman and her sisters has ten stories, each about diffrent women in different cultures who are goddesses.

"Sedna, Woman of the Sea" is my focus. This Inuit folklore tells the story of the goddess Sedna who lives in the depths of the ocean as the mistress of all sea creatures. Through her moods, she controls the sea animals. When she is happy and content, she sends sea animals to the surface to be hunted for food, but when she is angry or displeased, she keeps her animals with her, causing starvation and hunger for humans. Other notable stories that I read: "Isis, Mistress of Life and Death," "Ix Chel, The Moon Goddess," and "Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth."

I love the gorgeous collage portraits that accompany each story. The paragraphs that precede the story are very informative about the origin of the story and the time period.

You won’t find the oft regurgitated Greek goddesses. Instead, Changing Woman and Her Sisters: Stories of Goddesses From Around the World celebrates lesser-known goddesses from cultures all over the world, including the Navajo people, the Inuit people, the Mayans, ancient China, Japan, Sumer (modern-day Iraq), India and more!

Each tale begins with the goddesses name, place of origin, and brief historical context. Many of the tales read like Creation myths and often explain how that goddess came to be. Trina Schart Hyman’s illustrations are atypical; instead of her customary linework, she felt inspired to use collage for the first time. She used materials from around her house – like garden seeds, fleece from her sheep, and cropped photographs of kids she knew – combined with acrylics, ink and glue. The result is illustrations with layers, depth, and new treasures to discover each time they’re viewed.

The Author’s and Artist’s note aren't to be missed. They lend helpful context to both the retold tales and their illustrations. I sincerely appreciate Katrin Hyman Tchana sharing with us her inspiration and motivation: to write a book in which her African American sons could see people who looked like them.

Highly recommended to any reader looking for a collection of lesser-known female goddesses/ deities with the majority being from non-European countries.

5 stars (for its beautiful diversity in both its words and art)

From the same mother-daughter team behind The Serpent Slayer: And Other Stories of Strong Women.

(First posted on Unleash the Flying Monkeys!)

Sense Pass King is a story about a young boy from Cameroon that is hunted by the King, because he is far wiser than the King. Will the King be able to dim the light of this bright young boy? Read the story and find out!

I think that this is a great story! There is a lot of ways to foreshadow in the story and that is a great teaching point.

An activity that I would do with this story is a poetry assignment. I would have the students create acrostic poems using their names and personality traits.

I love how some of the women (I almost said young women, but they're not all young!) determine that they're not as strong* as men, and so must be clever. And how some of them *are* as strong as, or even stronger than, men. Of course, all of them are brave. Many, but not all, are also charming, and/or beautiful, and/or compassionate, and/or wise. None of them are imperfect, which makes the stories a little bit too-too much, but then, it's not that kind of book.

What it is a perfect book for my husband's grand-daughters, who are being raised on Disney Princesses. I might just have to ship a copy to them....


*to clarify, strong as in muscular...

Terrific story, even more amazing pictures. Look at the expressions of the 'extras' in each scene, and at the all the animals, and costumes. I love the soldiers especially, even before the end when they were very minor characters, as they're so proud of their duty and their beauty.

A wonderful collection of stories featuring female leads being strong, brave, and clever. Amazing illustrations. Some gore and more mature themes.

Beautiful, earthy illustrations of fairy tales from around the world. Trina Schart Hyman has been my favorite illustrator all of my life, and I seek out her work, no matter where it is. To my glee, Hyman tends to pick fantastic projects.

Retold by Katrin Hyman Tchana, daughter of the collection's illustrator, Caldecott Medal winner Trina Schart Hyman.

"This book is a collection of fairy tales that are -- sort of -- from around the world. Sort of, because there aren't stories here from every country in the world or even every continent."

What I loved most about The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women was how colorful it was: both its illustrations and its heroes. Compared to Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls|, Serpent Slayer felt more diverse with its sources and characters' ethnicity.

Also, contrary to what Yolen said about genderizing hero in Not One Damsel in Distress, these two embrace heroines.

"The stories in this collection are about women and girls who find themselves in difficult circumstances and respond in brave, clever, and thoughtful ways. Most collections of folk and fairy tales are collections of stories that remind us how to be heroes. But these stories are all about heroines. A heroine's experience is different from that of a hero's, for woman's experience of life through the ages has been different from man's. We believe we need more books that reflect that experience."

Recommended to all ages.

4 stars

All eighteen tales with the countries or continent from which they were based if it was mentioned in the "Source Notes" at the back of the book:

The Serpent Slayer (China)
The Barber's Wife (India)
Nesoowa and the Chenoo (North America/the Wabanaki)
Clever Marcela (Phillipines; Chile)
Sister Lace (China)
The Rebel Princess (Poland/Jewish)
Beebyeebyee and the Water God (Cameroon)
Kate Crackernuts (none specified but I think it's Scottish)
The Old Woman and the Devil (Egypt; Sudan; Asia)
The Magic Lake (Latin America)
Grandmother's Skull (North America/the Inuit and Yupik peoples)
Three Whiskers from a Lion's Chin (Egypt; Sudan; Asia)
Duffy the Lady (England)
Sun-Girl and Dragon-Prince (Armenia)
Staver and Vassilissa (none specified but I think it's Russian)
Tokoyo (Japan)
The Lord's Daughter and the Blacksmith's Sea (Scotland)
The Marriage of Two Masters (Gambia; Jewish; Egypt; Sudan)

Excellent compilation of folk tales from around the world featuring strong women as the lead characters.

I am very impressed with this book and very glad that I found it. The art is amazing, and I've never before seen so many different cultural stories in one place. This has 10 stories of goddesses each from a different region. They are stories I'd never heard before, and they are all culturally relevant and I'm glad they've been put in this book. I'd love to use this book in my future classroom. I would say the theme is embracing the differences of all cultures. Different but equal!

Sense Pass King is a delightful fable adapted from the traditional lore of northwestern Cameroon with a jealous king, a young princess, a trip to foreign lands and even a seven-headed sea monster thrown into the mix. The story is charming and the illustrations are fantastic. I love the richness of the colours and the attention to detail.½

Changing Woman and Her Sisters is a collection of stories about Goddesses from a variety of cultures all around the world. This book draws from such cultures as; Navajo, Celtic,Inuit, Buddhist, and Shinto.

I enjoyed this story for a few different reasons. One thing I liked about this folktale were the illustrations. I liked that the illustrations were bright and colorful and clearly depicted the story being told. I also liked that the author provided an authors note at the end of the story and informed the reader of the choices she made while writing the tale and how she heard it. I also liked that the author explained that she decided to change the main character to a girl, because she knew there were many other stories that had strong and smart boy charters.

The main message of this story is to learn how to work together instead of against on another, and how to use everyone strengths to make a better society.

Buy this book for any little girl you know who enjoys stories. Worth reading for the message that girls can be strong, adventurous and still be a girl. Wonderful stories to start conversations with the little women in your life - and for yourself!½

This is a cute little book about a toddler who loves to eat. He causes many messes though. It is a great book for pre-k and kindergartners.

This book is about a toddler who loves to eat food! He is constantly looking around for food and seems to always run into trouble. Its a cute little book and young kids will enjoy it being read to them.

This book is about a young child who is always hungry. Sometimes this gets him into trouble and he ends up making big messes.