In the summer of 2024, Caramel read several books on Asian myths and legends. A few months ago he reviewed one of these books. Today he is talking to Sprinkles about another one: Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories, edited by C. Spike Trotman, Kate Ashwin, and Kel McDonald, and published originally in 2016. The edition the book bunnies read is from the 2022 printing.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, you have a graphic-novel kind of a book for us today.
Caramel: Yes, kind of. It is not quite a graphic novel though. It has lots of different stories, not just one.
S: Yes, that is true, it is not quite a graphic novel, because it is not a novel. A novel is a long-form writing, and there is a well-developed story that goes on from the beginning to the end. This one has several short pieces.
C: Yes. There are about twenty-three different stories, of ten to twenty pages each. And they are from all over the world.
S: Well, not quite. Not from all over the world.
C: Okay, they are from all over Asia. There are stories from Japan, China, India, Georgia, Turkey, Laos, Myanmar, Tibet, and Iraq.
S: That is not all the world, but it is quite a lot of different places.
C: Yes, and each story is hand-drawn by a different artist, so it is pretty cool to see that. Every artist has their own style. They are all black and white, but you can definitely see the difference.
S: How cool, Caramel!
C: Yes, very cool!
S: So tell me a bit about the types of stories. The title of the book is Tamamo the Fox Maiden. So I am assuming there is a story in the book with that title.
C: Yup. It is a story from Japan. It is kind of weird but it is a classic folk tale apparently. Here is a version of it, but the version in the book is not quite the same.
S: It does not seem like it is your favorite then?
C: No not really.
S: So which story is your favorite?
C: I don’t know. I really liked “Ghost Pepper”, a story from Laos, adapted by Molly Nemecek. It is about this guy who likes cooking but his mom does not like spicy stuff. He finds a demon thing who likes his cooking and then he marries her. I like the artist’s style, amusing and very effective.
S: Oh that is neat Caramel. Any others?
C: “The Great Flood”, adapted by Stu Livingston, is also cool. It is a Chinese story, part of a myth that has been retold by many people apparently. I liked this one because it had a good moral.
S: And what was the moral?
C: The boy is hard-working and kind and generous, and not greedy. And in the end good things happen to him. So the story is saying, be kind, hard-working, and generous, and don’t be greedy.
S: I like that. Simple but valuable.
C: Yep.
S: I am glad you enjoyed this book Caramel.
C: Yes, I did! It is always cool to learn about the stories people from other places tell their children.
S: That is so true Caramel. But it is getting late now. I think this might be a good time to wrap up our review.
C: Yes, I already said all I wanted to say anyways.
S: Okay, then, let us stop. But before that you want to say one more thing to our readers, no?
C: Of course! Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
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