Creation: Read-Aloud Stories from Many Lands

Children's Literature - Judy Chernak

If you thought the creation story of the Bible-six days for the Lord to manufacture a world and people it with all its flora and fauna, before resting from all his labors on the seventh day-is somewhat hard to believe, you'll enjoy this collection of fanciful "Beginning" tales from other cultures. Adults as well as children will chuckle at the how a servant girl's broom pushed the sky so far away; empathize with Persephone in her dark underworld home; and cringe at the moon's child-sacrifice in order to best his rival, the sun. The collection also includes some "How come...?" tales of our animal friends and boasts some of the most gloriously colored, enchanting illustrations I've seen in a while. Highly recommended.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 8From China and Australia, and some peoples of Africa, Europe, and North (but not South) America, come stories grouped under three headings: "The Creation of the World," "Warmth and Light," and "Creatures Great and Small." Certain themes recur: the link between dreaming and creation, between clay and humans; the inseparability of sorrow from the advent of all things; and the creative abilities in men, women, animals, and gods. Although all of the tales in the first two sections have mythic content, their tone ranges from sacred seriousness to folktale homeliness. The large-print, readable text does contain a few Briticisms. The last set are pourquoi stories, mostly amusing (except for a Kenyan tale about a man whose get-rich-quick scheme requires him to sell his wife's teeth, but he neglects to pull them after putting a magic ointment on them to make them grow, and the woman turns into an elephant). The final story is about "the mystery of death," but instead of a somber ending, Pilling has found a brilliant tale about metamorphosis that perfectly rounds out the collection. Foreman's dramatic and luminous watercolors provide continuity in style, while small decorative motifs acknowledge various cultural sources. (Rabbit's costume, alas, is not Hopi.) This volume is a worthy successor to the author's Realms of Gold (Kingfisher, 1993), and would make an engaging introduction to myths for young readers.Patricia Lothrop-Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI

Kirkus Reviews

Defining creation liberally, Pilling (Realms of Gold, 1993, etc.) includes pourquoi tales among the 16 here, retold in a uniform, easy style that does indeed lend itself to reading aloud—especially since the typeface is large and well-leaded.

Presented in three general groups—beginnings, warmth and light, and animals—the familiar stories include the opening chapter of Genesis and the myth of Persephone ("How a Girl Brought About The Seasons"), while those less familiar range from the somber Norse "How Everything Came from Fire and Ice" to a tale from Sri Lanka in which an irritated servant girl whacks the low clouds with a broom until they float up beyond reach. Foreman's many illustrations only occasionally evoke a particular culture; in general they are his own interpretations, featuring small, sketchy figures placed on radiant backgrounds done in what looks like watercolors applied to wet paper. Pilling does not cite specific sources for each story, and next to Virginia Hamilton's In the Beginning (1988), this collection seems limited and scattershot; still, the selections are well- chosen for sharing, and for showing how cultures may differ while the big issues remain the same.