Vietnamese Folktales for Children: Stories of Adventure and Wonder in Vietnamese and English

Gr 1-3–This collection of traditional folktales exposes readers to the parade of ­morality ­stories involving talking animals, ­mythical ­beings, and people in ancient bucolic ­Vietnam. With the strong dose of fantasy and the time period of pre-industrial Vietnam, the artwork looks like a blend of watercolor and colored pencil that form two-dimensional, realistic illustrations with little shadow—a ­traditional ­Vietnamese art style. Because the stories are written with roughly 60–100 words per paragraph, the book may be more suitable for r­eading aloud than for independent readers. The lessons learned in this book are universal: importance of friendship and gratitude, never judge a book by its cover, and goal setting. Each story starts out with a full-page drawing with opening text appearing in ­English in black serif type; the second page has artwork and an opening text in ­Vietnamese in a red sans serif. Subsequent pages have ­alternating paragraphs of black text and for English and red text for Vietnamese, with full-color ­illustrations. In the story of “The Carp and the Dragon’s Gate,” the Jade Emperor—seen as a white-haired, bearded man on a throne with the sun’s rays behind, over layers of clouds and rain falling over rice fields—is ­declaring a contest for the next Rain Dragon. All the world’s fishes arrive at the gates of the Jade Emperor’s palace to compete, only to fail. On the 10th day, a ­yellow carp appears that can complete the ­obstacle course. The c­ollection includes a recording of both the English and the ­Vietnamese text; the English is read in an ­American accent and the ­Vietnamese is read with a Northern ­Vietnamese accent. ­