Folklore in Childrens Books

 This week I read two charming folklore children's books: Imani's Moon by Janay Brown-Wood and Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales. These two stories both have strong cultural ties, beautiful illustrations, and lively characters. In Imanis Moon a young girl was bullied by members of her tribe for being small so her mother inspired her to reach for her dreams by telling her stories. She then went on adventures with talking animals and other magical elements to achieve her goals. I especially liked the magical elements and unique stories throughout the book. The author took inspiration from the Maasai oral tradition. The illustrations were done in watercolors and colored pencils and had lots of bold colors and movement. Some of the stories included a moon Goddess who fought a battle against the sun God and a brave spider who captures a snake. The moral of this book was to never stop trying to achieve your dreams.

Just a Minute on the other hand didn't seem to have a moral of the story but instead was a trickster tale, a counting book, and introduces children to English and Spanish words. In this book, there are many allusions to the rich traditions of Mexican culture. In this fun tale, an old lady finds Señior Galavera waiting for her on her birthday and has to distract him so she can have a party. In this tale there weren't any talking animals; however, the talking skeleton counts as a magical element in my book. The illustrations were painted with acrylics and also had bold colors that helped the story along. This book has many attractive aspects but I loved the playfulness of the text and wonderful illustrations the most!