Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora.

Hansel and Gretel by Rachel Isadora.

I have to applaud Rachel Isadora’s efforts to recreate well-known European folk tales and set them in Africa filled with African characters. I have recently read her Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel which are clever, simply written and lovely.  Isadora doesn’t try to change the core of the story, leaving that just the same.  But the setting is changed and every element of the illustrations reflect their new setting in all of its colorful glory.

Isadora has done much more than insert people of color into these stories.  She has managed to distill the stories to their essence, offering very simple version of the stories that read aloud very well.  Her illustrations are collages of paper that are brilliantly colored and will project wonderfully to a crowd.  With people of color or not, these stories are some of the most child-friendly versions I have seen.  Isadora also has created two of the most fearsome witches I have seen in a long time.  Truly terrifying with their green eyes or skin and wild hair, these women are fearsome in a wonderful, shivery way.

Highly recommended for reading to classrooms of children who have missed the basic folklore, these books are beautiful, great to read aloud and have a unique cultural story to tell.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

The Man Who Lived in a Hollow Tree by Anne Shelby and Cor Hazelaar.

An Appalachian folk tale is turned into a charming picture book with this title.  Harlan Burch was a man who lived in a hollow sycamore tree.  He was a carpenter and knew immediately when he saw the grand hollow tree that he wanted to make it his home.  He lived there for years and years, planting trees.  Then something magical happened and he began to get younger.  He courted and wed and had a brood of children who all lived in the family tree.  And there he lived and lived and lived for a good long time.

The folklore is woven in the very cloth of this tale.  Repetition and rhythm tie it even more firmly to oral storytelling.  Shelby has done a wonderful job of telling a tale simply but with style.  Hazelaar’s illustrations are acrylic on linen which make them feel quilted, adding to the resonance of the book.  Additionally, she included small quilting squares in each of the illustrations that help tell the story.

A friendly and warm folk tale that reads well aloud, this book is ideal for an Arbor Day story time or for any green or Earth Day unit.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.