Reference Reviews

Reference for Students

Folktales from the Japanese Countryside. As told by Hiroko Fujita. Edited by Fran Stalings, Harold Wright,and Miki Sakurai. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 1 vol. 196 p. $40.00. ISBN 10: 1-59158-488-4; 13: 978-1-59158-488-9.

For those who want to learn about Japan as well as enjoy some folktales, this volume provides a brief history with historical highlights before 1868 and then the modern period: 1868 to the present. The preface material also introduces storytelling in Japan, the oral tradition, and about folktales. A line map of Japan with major cities and provinces named. Eight pages of beautiful color photographs are found in the center of the book while line drawings are throughout the text. Stories in Part 1 are Animals, Part 2, Village People, 3 Priests and Apprentices, 4 Strange Happenings, 5 Yamanbas, 6 Supernatural Creatures, and 7 Food, Games and Crafts. Appendixes include comments and notes, a Guide to the words in the book (with a pronunciation guide) and a bibliography. Highly recommended. Literature teachers as well as world history will use it.