Folk Tales from Japan : Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales for Children

by Florence Sakade, Yoshio Hayashi (illustrator)

"Filled with now-familiar favorites, along with lesser-known yet equally delightful tales, this enduring collection presents stories to enchant and enlighten young readers." — School Library Journal

From singing turtles and flying farmers to a weeping dragon and rice bags that replenish themselves, readers of all ages will find engaging characters and moments of magic in these beloved Japanese folk tales.

The stories in this collection include:
The Magic Mortar—A tale that explains why the sea is salty
How to Fool a Cat—A funny story about a clever woodworker
The Rolling Mochi Cakes—Good food, a beautiful song and a lesson on the benefits of sharing with others
The Dragon's Tears—A sweet tale about first impressions, kindness, and inclusivity

Broken up into 16 folk tales, this book will become a go-to for bedtime and storytime. Kids (and adults!) will have the opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture in a fun, accessible way.

Genres: Japan, Cultural, Childrens

80 pages, Hardcover

Published August 4, 2020

About the author

The late Florence Sakade is widely recognized as a pioneer of English language publishing in Japan. She was an experienced editor and the author/compiler of such favorites as A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese, Origami: Japanese Paper Folding, and Japanese Children's Favorite Stories. Her distinguished career spanned four decades, and she worked until her death in 1999 at the age of 82.

Reviews

[Gerardine Betancourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this beautiful book, we find 16 tales of Japanese culture for children. The illustrations in the book are amazing. The stories have a bit of everything, they made me laugh, cry, and they all have a great lesson at the end. I recommend this book for any teacher like me or a parent who wants to have a tool to teach Japanese culture in a fun way to the kids.
4 stars
This book comes out on August 4, 2020.
thanks to edelweiss and Tuttle publishing for this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in doing some casual reading of some classic short tales from Japan, so I decided to pick up this book. The illustrations are nice, but I found some of the stories were shortened way too much to be all that entertaining. Even with the understanding that this was formatted to suit children, the way they chose to abridge the stories made some of them read in a stilted manner, as another review pointed out, or feel half-baked.

I'll give this a 3, because you do of course become familiar with some classic tales, even if they're in summary.

[Ruthie Planamenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this book piecemeal each Wednesday when my students check out their library books. I commend Tuttle Publishing for their commitment to making Asian stories accessible for an English-speaking audience. These stories were interesting and the illustrations were lovely. The final story about Kintaro was especially fascinating—big Tarzan vibes there! But because the stories had to be kept short, they felt abridged and rather stilted.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was super interesting reading the fairy tales from Japan, because some where similar to the Europeans but many were totally different.

È stato veramente interessante leggere una raccolta di favole giapponesi, perché alcune erano simili alle nostre, ma parecchie erano veramente diverse.

THANKS EDELWEISS FOR THE PREVIEW!

[Rolando José Rodríguez De León · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, my daughter love it. It's a good approximation to the japanese folk tales in a "soft" language. I read it first in order to translate it to my girl. She is enjoying it so much and so did I.
Made a Spanish review here:

https://pananime.com/LeAn/Entries/202...

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book the story of Urashima Taro is very similar to Oisin and Tir na Og from Ireland. Also I can't help but wonder if Rudyard Kipling stole the idea of Mowgali from the story of Kintaro and the bears?

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tales were good but the illustrations could have been better, in fact they were a bit distracting.