(Intermediate) Trina Schart Hyman's arresting illustrations for this collection of eighteen folktales feature strong, solidly built women with long, flowing, Samson-like tresses-no wispy waifs here. And none looks like anyone you'd want to mess with-not the little girl in the Latin American tale ""The Magic Lake,"" not even the cane-wielding crone in ""The Old Woman and the Devil."" As befitting folklore and legend, the characters often appear larger than life. The young Cameroonian woman who marries a water god has an impressively muscular neck, long braids that float in an array about her head as if electrified, and impossibly long arms with large hands, fingertips reaching almost to her knees. Often, the art expertly extends the text. In ""The Marriage of Two Masters,"" a woman finally meets the man whose intelligence matches hers; as they stand together, flowers and doves from her clothing and leaves and fish from his flow back and forth, the birds and fish matching up Escher-like in the air between them. Unfortunately, the stunning art outshines the bland retellings, which are overly long and lack a keen sense of pacing. But full of humor, energy, and poetry, the illustrations will boost readers' interest in the stories, whose protagonists will inspire both girls and boys. Brief notes provide sources, and a preface contains general information about folklore, but specific details (changes made in these retellings and why, cultures each tale is found in, etc.) might have inspired readers who are drawn to the theme to investigate the genre further. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

K-Gr 4-These 18 folktales emphasize feminine strength, courage, and wit. The stories are short-no more than seven pages-and each one is accompanied by a small introductory painting as well as a full-page illustration expertly rendered in ink and acrylic. The selections come from places as diverse as China, Scotland, and the Gambia. There's plenty of adventure to be found here; serpents, devils, thieves, and ogres abound. Many of the heroines are beautiful; all are brave and wise. As in most fairy tales, despair and violence are part of the mix. In the Alaskan story "Grandmother's Skull," for example, Neruvana's husband stabs all of her relatives to death while they sleep. In "Beebyeebyee and the Water God," from Cameroon, the water god is murdered by local fishermen and his brother retaliates by flooding the entire village, only sparing his sibling's widow. That the heroines use their varied skills to overcome heartache, tribulations, and challenges is a fine message to send to budding feminists as well as to their brothers.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr. 4^-7, younger. These 18 folktales not only feature strong women but also "brave, creative, and thoughtful" girls. The stories have been culled from many countries, and several originate from more than one culture, as the source notes make clear. Only "The Rebel Princess" and "Serpent Slayer" also appear in Jane Yolen's recent Not One Damsel in Distress [BKL My 1 00], but the stories differ in their details. Tchana is a competent reteller and these stories are well paced for reading aloud, but Yolen's language is more polished. With a larger format and Trina Schart Hyman's bold, dramatic ink and acrylic illustrations, this collection is visually more handsome and is likely to attract more browsers. Intended for family sharing, it will also be a rich resource for teachers and storytellers. --Linda Perkins

From the Chinese tale of Li Chi who slays a serpent and saves her village to the Gambian story of an offbeat wise woman, Hyman (Saint George and the Dragon) and her daughter Tchana here collect 18 inspiring stories about women powerful in might and mind. While Tchana's retellings occasionally get bogged down in complicated or meandering plots, her heroines are uniformly impressive. They handle swords, needles and stew pots with equal skill, marry whom they please and even outwit the devil. A few tales contain odd scenariosÄas when the skull of her grandmother tells Neruvana to kill her evil husband or the Sun-Girl chooses to abandon her baby to be with her true husband, the handsome Dragon-Prince. Brief source notes indicate the diverse origins of the stories, but Tchana maintains a consistent tone, emphasizing commonality rather than differences in cultures ("Hey, girl," calls the king to Clever Marcela, and "Hey, Janey," calls the squire in "Duffy the Lady"). The thick, oversize picture book features a single full-page watercolor and an opening spot illustration for each story. Hyman's spirited paintings emphasize bold and determined womenÄJudith the pirate surrounded by her crew of court ladies, Vassilissa wrestling the duke's warlordÄwhile keeping the details of the tales' settings intact. This is a fairy tale world where one can definitely hear women roar. All ages. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved