Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from…

Book Description: W.W. NORTON & COMPANY LTD 2000 UK. new Paperback NEW ED A multicultural collection of folktales and fairytales celebrating strong heroines. Foreword by Jane Yolen.

Book Description: New Paperback. Published by W.W. NORTON & CO. (paper). . New, not a used item. Multiple copies may be available.

This is a major collection of tales: folk, fairy, legend, oral history--in which women are the central character and the main problem solvers. Ragan has attempted to get stories from all over the world, and pretty much succeeds, except for not finding too many in South America. Ragan attaches a little homily to the end of each tale, which I sometimes find annoying, especially since sometimes glides over awkward issues. Nonetheless, this is an excellent choice for those wanting stories featuring strong, forceful, and clever women. ( )

A very enjoyable book, if you like folktales. Ragan (why do all the webpages list Jane Yolen as the editor, when she only wrote the introduction?) collected folktales from around the world that specifically feature a heroine. By this, she means a female is the protagonist of the story, not just a character, and that the girl takes action. In addition, the majority of the pieces she included are told from a woman's perspective. Ragan makes the point that when a man tells the story, even if it has a female protagonist, the woman's efforts are often belittled or overlooked. She does include a couple stories told by the man's perspective to illustrate this point. After every 2-3 page tale, Ragan writes a small summation, analyzing the story, generally from a feminist's perspective.

There are some great stories in here, variants of famous fairy tales like "Red Riding Hood" and "Rumpelstiltskin", great brag stories that this time feature impressive women, trickster tales, and a variety of others. My favorites generally came from the Asian stories and the Middle Eastern tales, although I liked the European tales, not surprisingly, since I'm most familiar with those. Of course, those were just my favorites; I thought all the folktales were fun to read.

This book is easy to pick up for small moments of reading, since it is composed of a multitude of small stories. Perfect for a new mom who has a four month baby claiming her attention. On the other hand, it also meant that it took a long time to read. Well worth the wait. ( )