Are you volunteering with Meals on Wheels or your local nursing home? Or are you looking for ways to help your child connect with older people beyond the basic stereotypes that pervade our culture?

Grandmother Stories: Wise Woman Tales from Around the World by Burleigh Muten is full of wonderful, imaginative stories that defy  the traditional role of older women in children’s literature. This book contains eight folk tales from Senegal, Japan, Russia, Hawaii, Mexico, Ireland, Germany, and Sweden. Far from being the evil stepmothers, conniving witches, or frail grannies of usual fairy tales, these ladies are magical, powerful, and kind.

These stories are full of imagination and adventure, making bedtime story telling an event that both my five and three year old girls get excited about. While each tale is substantially longer and more sparsely illustrated than a traditional picture book, the stories themselves are strong enough to captivate my young audience, hold their attention, and inspire their own creative play the next day.

Check it out at your local library and share your impressions of this unique fairy tale collection.

Tags: Children's Books

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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