The Barefoot Book of Mother & Daughter Tales

Book excerpt: Entertaining folk and fairy tales from around the world focus on girls who learn from their mothers to face life with a spirit of adventure, kindness, and courage. This book brings together mother and daughter tales from all over the world. Each of the stories has a distinctive theme and flavour, but all of them share a way of looking at the feminine that embraces both dark and light, good and evil, showing us that the path to maturity requires learning how to deal with all aspects of life, and living wholeheartedly, with courage, generosity, and openness to change. The heroines of these stories include familiar figures such as "Demeter and Persephone," from ancient Greece; "Vasilisa the Beautiful," from Russia; and "Naomi and Ruth," from the Jewish tradition. There are also less familiar tales, among them "The Waterfall of White Hair," from China; "Great Mother Earthquake," from the Iroquois; and "The Girl and Her Godmother," from Norway. All of the stories deal with themes that challenge and guide us on many levels: the death of a beloved parent, the jealousy of a stepmother, the necessary hardship that often attends the passage to mature womanhood. At the same time, they show us how joy can arrive at the most unexpected moments, and how courage and adventure can fill every girl's life. Drawing on the collective wisdom of many generations, this is a book for mothers and daughters of today to share and to celebrate both together and as individuals weaving the story of their own lives. AUTHOR: Josephine Evetts-Secker teaches English Literature at The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A practising Jungian analyst, she has made a study of the feminine in folk and fairy tale from both a literary and a psychological perspective for many years. The Barefoot Book of Mother & Daughter Tales is her first book for children. Helen Cann was born in 1969. She trained at the School of Art, University of Wales, graduating in 1992. Since then, she has worked as an illustrator and artist, exhibiting in several European countries. Her work is in private collections in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, The United Kingdom and The United States Ages 6+ REVIEWS: "This beautiful book is a treat for the eyes and the soul." --The Story Bag National 80 full colour illustrations Double CD