René Bull (1872–1942)

I got this book for my 11th birthday and just started reading this at 27. Took me 16 years to want to actually read this book. I'm glad I read this at 27 and not at 11. At 11 I would not have understood most of the story. This is not an easy read. This is more difficult then I expected.

As much as it is difficult, this book is very enjoyable. It difficult in the same sense Canterbury Tales is difficult. It's a frame story. You have to remember Scheherazade's story while reading her tales. Sometimes the tales change the the person whom is speaking and sometimes Scheherazade interrupts the tales (but that only happened in one story). I like how this book is set up though because it's more advanced compared to books written today.

This book also reminded me of Gulliver's Travels in the fact that it misplaced in the book stores. THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN'S BOOK! Like Gulliver's Travels it has elements of fantasy thus most people think that makes it a children's book: NO! This book goes into torture, insanity, murder, religion, and among other things that at 11 I at least wouldn't fully understand.

My favorite story is this was Sinbad and Aladdin. There were some stories I didn't like, mainly the sort ones, but I like the longer stories. Sinbad and Aladdin were almost like novellas. I like how this book made me full understand the Jinni. Jinn don't grant you three wishes and that's it, according to this, once you unleash them they are you're slaves and you have them do whatever you want. Jinn are a satire on slave culture I think.

As a side note: I also question who actually wrote these tales. I almost think it was a women at times. Expectantly towards the end of Scheherazade story where the Sultan tells her how delighted he was with her wit and storytelling. I could be wrong and this could just be several told tale written down later on by others, but at some points I feel like a women wrote them.… (més)

This book is based on a book called Uncle Remus: His Songs and his Sayings, which was based on tales passed on by enslaved African-Americans. Its stories are very similar to fables in that they are about personified animals who trick each other constantly, but none of these tales have explicit morals at their conclusions. As the book's introduction states, "These stories do not focus at all on the triumph of good over evil or on the need for punishment: they are African folklore, not European myth or legend. The stories deal with tricks for the sake of trickery, with outsmarting the other fellow..." (p. 5).

My favorite story, which my dad read to me when I was younger, is "The Wonderful Tar Baby Story", which is about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit, who are always tricking each other. In this story, Brer Fox wants to get even with Brer Rabbit, so he sets the Tar Baby out on the road and waits for Brer Rabbit to come along. He watches and laughs while Brer Rabbit gets frustrated that the Tar Baby is not responding to his friendly chatter, and hits and kicks the Tar Baby until all of his limbs and finally his head are stuck in the tar.

This is a great treasury of folklore which could be used in multiple ways in the classroom - in a unit on folklore, in a unit on slavery, in a unit on storytelling and oral tradition, or even in a simple lesson about personification. This collection could also be used to teach students about the differences between European folklore and fables and African folklore and fables.… (més)

I would give it a hundred, if there were 100 stars. It's a really good book. It's really funny. The picture on the cover shows one of the pictures in the time when Brer Rabbit tricked Brer Cow and got her horns stuck in a tree so they could milk her. But, then the next day, Brer Cow chased Brer Rabbit for the rest of his life. I think he still thinks the trick was worth it, because they got a couple of bucket fulls of milk.

I really like his trickiness. This is my favorite Brer Rabbit book because it has lots of cool stories.… (més)