The perfect read-aloud storybook for ages 2 - 8 years old Contents: Runaway Cookies --The Gingerbread Man (United States)--The Pancake (Norway)--The Bun (Russia) Incredible Appetites --I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (United States)--The Boy Who Tried to Fool His Father (Zaire)--The Cat and the Parrot (India) The Victory of the Smallest --Sody Sallyraytus (United States)--The Ram in the Chile Patch (Mexico)--Odon the Giant (Philippines) Chain Tales --This Is the House That Jack Built (England)--Anansi and the Pig (Jamaica)--The Rooster and the Mouse (Italy) Slowpokes and Speedsters --The Hare and the Tortoise (Greece)--The Coyote and the Rabbit (Pueblo)--The Fox and the Crab (China) Fooling the Big Bad Wolf --The Gunny Wolf (United States)--Groundhog's Dance (Cherokee)--The Three Pigs (England) Eighteen nursery tales from many cultures are presented in carefully-crafted versions perfect for the young listener. Sierra's translations are sensitive both to the imagination of the child and the cultural origins of the stories, and Vitale's illustrations are rendered in a warm folk-art style. Enjoyable listening and looking for everyone, and fascinating reading for ages 8 and up. PreSchool-Grade 2?Eighteen nursery tales, grouped by type or theme: Runaway Cookies; Incredible Appetites; The Victory of the Smallest; Chain Tales; Slowpokes and Speedsters; and Fooling the Big Bad Wolf. Six stories are from the U.S., including one African American and two Native American tales. There are two from England, and one each from ancient Greece, China, India, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Russia, and Zaire. Some ("This Is the House That Jack Built," "The Three Pigs") are familiar and readily available elsewhere, while others ("The Boy Who Tried to Fool His Father," "Odon the Giant," "The Rooster and the Mouse") are less well known. The selections generally read aloud well, although Wilhelmina Harper's version of The Gunniwolf (Dutton, 1970) is preferable to the one given here, and Sierra's retelling of "The Goat in the Turnip Patch" in The Flannel Board Storytelling Book (Wilson, 1987) is better than "The Ram in the Chile Patch" here (which appeared in Spanish in Sierra's Multicultural Folktales [Oryx, 1991]). "Groundhog's Dance" is also available in Margaret R. MacDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales (Wilson, 1986). The book is extremely attractive. Each selection has a full-page painting and one or more smaller pictures done in oil on wooden panels in a folkloric style evocative of the tale's country of origin, and every page is framed with a full-color border. The introduction and notes are a model of clarity and care, making the collection equally useful for parents and professionals.?Pam Gosner, Maplewood Memorial Library, NJ Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Gr. 4^-6, younger for reading aloud. This treasure trove for teachers, storytellers, and readers offers story variations of simple, repetitive tales. Sierra supplies three versions of each story type: for instance, Norway's "Pancake," Russia's "Bun," and America's "Gingerbread Man" are grouped under the heading Runaway Cookies. Sierra's scholarship is impeccable, and she includes an extensive list of sources. The paintings reflect the origins of the tales, and colorful borders enliven the pages that have lots of text. Vitale's technique--painting on wood--works especially well as it captures the earthy folksiness of the stories perfectly. Adults looking for a new spin on an old story or a way to add a multiethnic flavor to storytime will find this collection very useful. Susan Dove Lempke Honors for Nursery Tales Around the World American Library Association Notable Book ​American Folklore Society Aesop Prize Scholastic, Inc., 200 Best Books of the 20th Century San Francisco Chronicle, ​Best Books of the 20th Century Nursery Tales Around the World is a book that is meant to please the whole family. For young children, it is an exciting read-aloud, and for older children and adults, the tales and notes serve as and introduction to the fascinating similarities of the world's folktales. Judy Sierra is a children's author, a storyteller, and also holds a doctorate in Folklore and Mythology. She has been writing laugh-out-loud picture books for 25 years. Besides inducing giggles, Judy's books expand children's vocabularies, extol the virtues of kindness, perseverance, and friendship, and celebrate the joy of a life filled with books.  "I write stories and rhymes to entertain children ages four to eight,"  she explains.  "Also, because picture books are shared across generations, I always add a bit of humor and wordplay for adults. I'm very pleased when an online reviewer says they enjoy reading my books to children again and again." Illustrators such as Marc Brown, Melissa Sweet, J. Otto Seibold, Will Hillenbrand, and Stephen Gammell have expanded her work's humor exponentially, creating read-aloud classics like  Wild About