Italian_Folktales

=__ //**Italian Folktales**// __= Once upon a time....... A brokenhearted girl went to Italy for two and a half weeks during Christmas break in 2006. She was trying to leave her broken heart behind but kept running into problem after problem. She went alone expecting to find peace in distance but what to her wondering eyes should appear but one little miniature disaster after another. She felt as if her heart had jumped from the frying pan and into the fire. Starting with weather, luggage, telephone jack, cash, and more. Eventually the beauty of Italy was slowly making its way into her heart which felt like a temporary band aid. In the end she was mesmerized by Italian culture and their Christmas traditions. Now, she is in a storytelling class, learning more about folklore, and studying the Italian culture through tales from her beloved Italy. For this is a true story....

There are some common topics amongst the books I read such as animals, tricksters or fools, and morals. I was mostly pleased and enjoyed the stories I read. I must be honest though, not being able to find a single review for any of the" Legend of Befana" books that I own really upsets me. I love this story. I love this little witch. I love all of the Befana books that I own and not a single one has a review. WOW!

Not long ago.... This book is a republished creation with twelve old Italian tales. Amongst the tales are some oldies but goodies like "Cenerentola" along with some lesser knowns such as "The Three Fools" and "The Thread of Life." The reader is entertained by serpents, fools, and animals in this humorous compilation of stories. The table of contents and the title page for each of these stories looks like an old piece of yellow paper, one that you might picture an old map to be printed on. The title page is the solo object on the first page of each story and one must turn the page for the story to begin. Each story is accompanied by a beautiful set of pictures by Mary GrandPre. GrandPre has illustrated the story of //Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat// which won an award.
 * [[image:threadoflifepic.gif width="133" height="164"]] || ** Vittorini, Domenico. //Twelve Old Italian Tales: The Thread of Life//. New York: Crown Publishers. 80p. 1995. $19.80 (9780517595954) **

I believe this book is culturally authentic because the author's notes explain that the book was a gift to the memory of Vittorini's father. Vittorini's father was a teacher of Romance languages at the University of Pennsylvania by day. By night, he was a man full of Italian folktales. He had heard these tales as a child growing up in in Italy and attended the University of Rome where he received his Doctor of Letters.His father wrote many books about Italian literature. I am assuming that since Italian is one of the Romance languages that the man must have done extensive language research in Italy which would allow for him to perfect these tales. This book is made up his father's collection of tales that he would retell nightly to Domenico and his sister Helen. For this is a true story... ||

(978-0823412167) ** Count Silvernose is a retelling by Eric Kimmel of the classic Italian tale of "Bluebeard" which has also been told under the name "How the Devil Married Three Sisters." Kimmel is a world renowned author that travels the world researching stories from different countries so that he may retell them in his own books. He used an authentic Italian tale but added a "Cinderella" spin into the story along with altered paintings of washerwomen of the 14th century. The drawings that Rayyan used for the illustrations were originally from Kimmelino diPerugia's sketchbook of 1504. His sketchbook caught the story of how the washerwomen of Italy were endangered at the end of the 14th century. Kimmel and Rayyan made a great choice in using historic pictures to accompany this historic tale. This tale has been around since men jousted and replaced their noses with either silver or gold. I would have to say this story is culturally authentic due to the amount of research Kimmel puts into his stories. The details Kimmel writes about in the author's notes are much more than one could ever hope for in a retelling of a tale. He found pictures out of a sketchbook that were produced at about the same time when the story was born. Then, he integrated the tale along with time correct illustrations taken from an old sketchbook for a wonderful book. This story would be a great for elementary aged children. Once upon a time..... There was a man with a silver nose that wanted a servant so he rode up to an old washerwoman's house that had three daughters. Two of the daughters, Maria and Carmela, were lovely but not so smart and the third, Assunta, being the exact opposite. Count Silvernose took Maria with him to become his servant. Then, the next week he was back for the other sister. Even though she didn't know how her other sister had died she went with him at the chance to have many splendid things and not have to work a lot. For the third week in a row he returns to the old washerwoman's house exclaiming that the second sister had also died. Assunta was the only daughter left and told him that she couldn't expect better than he as ugly as she was. When they arrived at the dirty house he started opening doors and showing her all of the dirty clothes and towels she was to wash. However, when they walk up to the thirteenth door, he doesn't open it, and told her that she is under no circumstances to go into the 13th door. Assunta, being the clever one, knows that her sisters must be behind the thirteenth door. She saw her sisters crying in the midst of a fire pit with goblins and imps. Assunta uses all of the dirty laundry to rescue her sisters. The sisters warn Assunta that Silvernose will smell her to see if she opened the pit. Assunta washes her hair so that she doesn't smell like the ember. Assunta makes up a story about how his ruffled shirts are the only things not finished and he needs to take them to her mother's house so that she may finish them. He loads up a wicker hamper that has the sisters under a pile of shirts with an eyeball on the top. Assunta tells him that the eyeball is on top to make sure that he doesn't break his promise. When he gets back she pushes him into the fire pit, closes the door, takes the keys, and rides off to her mother's house. For this is a true story........ ||
 * [[image:silvernose.jpg width="155" height="155"]] || ** Kimmel, Eric A. //Count Silvernose//. New York: Holiday House. 32p. 1996. $15.95

50p. $12.95. (1555919952) ** Long Ago... There was a man that made a compilation of stories for the young reader in between grades four and eight to enjoy. The first story is called "The Crimson Elf" which happens to be my favorite because it resonates my background knowledge. Listen. T here is a little girl that is following her mother through the woods only to meet up with a bad crimson elf disguised as a schoolboy her age. Does this have a hint of "Little Red Riding Hood" in it? Of course it does and I have always loved "Little Red Riding Hood!" There are five other stories in this book which Caduto has put his own spin of 21st century values and sensibilities. For instance, the "Frog Princess" switched the gender roles in order to make an original story of one that has been produced hundreds of times in a variety of ways. For these are all true stories..
 * [[image:crimson.jpg width="136" height="174"]] || ** Caduto, Michael J. //The Crimson Elf: Italian Tales of Wisdom//. Illustrated by: Tom Sarmo. Golden, Colorodo: Fulcrum Kids.

Michael Caduto's ancestors are from Campania, Italy. These tales have been passed down through his ancestors and he has taken the time to research them and put them into words so that others may enjoy the too. A good tale is one that always has an underlying moral within it ,however, when told the children pick up on the entertainment of tales. This book is full of well written tales. Caduto explains how the Italians used to sit around in a stable and tell stories. Through time the tradition has moved to sitting in the room where the food is made or being prepared. The pictures are that of a pencil carbon on a white sheet of paper. Sarmo's pictures parallel in age with the stories. I trust that his tales are accurate to their culture because he is of Italian descent but continued to do research over these tales and storytelling patterns from within his homeland of Italy. The reader can tell that Caduto is serious about his work by all of the information he has provided for the readers,parents, librarians, and teachers ||


 * [[image:disobedienteels.jpg width="172" height="172"]] || **Cimino, Maria. //The Disobedient Eels and Other Italian Tales//. Illustrated by: Claire Nivola. New York: Pantheon Books. 32p. $2.63. (9780394820248)**

This book has several short tales that would make great read aloud openers to other books. While they are short stories they all speak volumes to themes that reach beyond their words. The book is full of tricksters and beggars and each story is plagued with some quick wit. This book would be better for the upper elementary grades due to the humor in the stories. The pictures are by Claire Nivola who does a great job with captivating the humor of the stories within the pictures. Long ago.....long ago....... This book was published in 1970 and there is no reviews anywhere to be found. It was a chore to even find a picture of the book cover. However, there was a very informative bit about the author at the end of the book. Maria Cimino traveled through Italy working in libraries to collect and research these storeis. She worked through the libraries in Venice, Rome, and Florence. She had the hard task of translating them into English fromdifferent Italian dialects. Admirably, she was the head of the Central Children's Room of the New York Public Library. My assumption would be that these age-old tales are culturally authentic since she translated them from Italian dialect into English. The author was a painter and sculptor and visited Italy quite a bit. .... that is a true story! ||

$6.30 (9780152438173)** Once upon a time... Tommy Depaola does a great job with the colors and pictures of the classic legend of La Befana in his book //The Legend of Old Befana.// The colors that he uses in his pictures are that of the old world in which this tale was born. He tells the story of how a busy Befana goes to sleep after all of her chores only to be woken up by a bright light from a brilliant star. The next morning she hears bells while she is doing her chores and keeps dismissig them. Until finally, the procession of The Three Kings come to her house and they ask her about the Child King. She doesn't know what they are talking about nor make time to join them in their search. She thinks about it and bakes some goodies for the King. She runs to find Bethlehem and the King. While running she all the sudden is lifted into the air and running in the air. Every year on the eve of January 6th she continues her journey to find the Child King. While she is looking for him she leaves a gift at each child's house until she finds the Child King. This story celebrates the Child King, therefore, it gives meaning to going to each house and leaving presents versus here in America where Santa has become very commercialized.
 * [[image:oldbefana.jpg width="131" height="161"]] || **DePaola, Tommy. //The Legend of Old Befana//. New York: Voyager Books. 1980. 32p.

There is currently no reviews on line for this book due to its age. //The Legend of Old Befana// was published in 1980 which,astoundingly, was thirty years ago. I have decided to review this story but will include another Befana story that I can find book reviews for. With much time spent on the internet, I can't find a single review for any of the Befana books I own. There is an author's note at the beginning that tell the background of The Legend of La Befana. I am sure that this book is authentic due to it being the tale that I heard of while in Italy and saw with my own eyes the spirit of this Christmas Witch. DePAOla states that Befana visits on the eve of January 6th in seach of the Christ Child. || __ I couldn't find reviews for any of these Bef ana books either: __

I have four "La Befana" books that I tried to find official reviews for but none were found. Here are the cover pictures of the other "La Befana" books that could be used along with //The Legend of Old Befana as// a compare/contrast lesson. These tales are all different but vibrant stories worth finding and retelling or reading to your students.

The two that I pulled from the author's site have been respectfully cited below.


 * [[image:bwishful.jpg]] || [[image:witch.jpg width="150" height="223"]] || [[image:plumebefana.jpg width="295" height="240"]] ||


 * Works Cited:**
 * __ TWU Databases: Wilson Web - Book Review Digest __**

Ashliman, D.L. "//How The Devil Married Three Sisters//." Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts. University of Pittsburgh, June 5, 2009. Web 7 Jul 2010. . Broderick, Kathy. "//The Thread of Life (Book Review)//." Booklist 92 (1995):469. Article Citation. Web. 7 Jul 2010. Greenlee, Adele. "//The Crimson Elf (Book Review).//" School Library Journal 43 (1997):145. Article Citation. Web. 7 Jul 2010. Kimmel, Eric A. "//Eric A. KImmel Biography."// Eric Kimmel. Lucent Studios, n.d. Web. 7 Jul 2010. . "//Madame B. Wishful//." Laura Jursnick. Web. 9 Jul 2010. . Mandell, Ellen. "//The Crimson Elf (Book Review//)." Booklist 93 (1997):1893. Article citation. Web. 7 Jul 2010. Scanlon, Donna L. "//Count Silvernose (Book Review//)." //School Library Journal// v.42 (1996): 189. Article Citation. Web. 7 Jul 2010. Stevenson, Deborah. "//The Thread of Life (Book Review)//." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 49 (1995): 108. Article Citation. Web. 7 Jul 2010. "//The Story of Befana."// Ilse Plume. Web. 9 Jul 2010. 



