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TALES FROM THE BAMBOO GROVE by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

TALES FROM THE BAMBOO GROVE

by Yoko Kawashima Watkins & illustrated by Jean Tseng & Mou-sien Tseng

Pub Date: Aug. 31st, 1992
ISBN: 0-02-792525-0

The author of an outstanding account of her family's experiences escaping from Korea to return to Japan at the end of WW II (So Far from the Bamboo Grove, 1986, ALA Notable) recounts six Japanese tales remembered from her childhood. Watkins's introduction gives these brief tales unusual poignancy: she describes how her mother told ``Dragon Princess, Tatsuko'' when Yoko complained about breaking out with measles and explained, when telling ``The Fox Wife,'' that it was ``made up'' by farmers protesting a heavy tax. ``The Grandmother Who Became an Island,'' concerning a family separated in wartime, was the last story her father told before leaving for what turned out to be six years during WW II. Simply and gracefully narrated and handsomely embellished with full page b&w illustrations, an appealing addition to folklore collections. (Folklore. 7-12)