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246th out of 447 books
—
828 voters
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World
A definitive sourcebook of folktales and fairytales and the first of its kind to feature a variety of multicultural heroines. Dismayed by the predominance of male protagonists in her daughters' books, Kathleen Ragan set out to collect the stories of our forgotten heroines: courageous mothers, clever young girls, and warrior women who save villages from monsters, rule wisel...more
Paperback, 480 pages
Published
May 17th 2000
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 1998)
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I bought this years ago to keep in reserve for my future kids. If I had daughters, I wanted them to have stories that would counter the "someday my prince will come" of the more popular fairy tales. And if I had sons, I wanted to make sure they respected and admired girls who stood up for themselves.
Flash forward to today and I'm the mother of two daughters. My youngest is still all about the pretty pretty princesses, but my oldest is becoming receptive to hearing tales of courage, bravery, an...more
Flash forward to today and I'm the mother of two daughters. My youngest is still all about the pretty pretty princesses, but my oldest is becoming receptive to hearing tales of courage, bravery, an...more
Jul 25, 2011
Tori
added it
2004- This book is split up into sections by location containing folk and fairy tales with women heroines. While I had some favorites: The Three Sisters and Their Husbands, Three Brothers (Ireland), Little Red Cap (Germany), The Pigeon's Bride (Yugoslavia), The Innkeeper's Wise Daughter (Jewish-American) and How Parvatibai Outwitted the Ducoits (Makarashtra, India), I found lots of the other stories to be confusing, boring or both. It might be good book if you are really into the topic or need t...more
Amazing collection of just over 100 folktales from all over the world where women are the heroes. In most of our culture's well-known fairy tales, women too often play either a passive role or embody only negative qualities: the damsel in distress or the evil stepmother. Ms. Ragan has gathered an immensely valuable anthology with examples of women and girls cooperating with each other, protecting and rescuing their loved ones, solving difficult problems, demonstrating bravery and intelligence, a...more
I took several months to leisurely read this book, which continues a fascinating and diverse assemblage of tales, drawn from every continent of the world except for Antarctica. The theme of the collection is that of strong female protagonists, and it was well worth the time it took to read this extensive collection. Ragan clearly put a great deal of effort into organizing and researching the stories, and even took the time to add her own personal "reaction" at the end of each tale, in italics, p...more
An excellent anthology of folktales from all over the world showcasing the common strengths of women from different cultures. The Native American tales from North and South America, tales from Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East were my personal favorites. Specific stories I loved:
-Anait
-Where the Girl Saved Her Brother
-The Princess and Mountain Dweller
-Altyn-Aryg
-The Man Killed for a Spinach Leaf
-The Leopard Woman
-Women's Wiles
As a lover of fairy tales and folktales, I was surp...more
-Anait
-Where the Girl Saved Her Brother
-The Princess and Mountain Dweller
-Altyn-Aryg
-The Man Killed for a Spinach Leaf
-The Leopard Woman
-Women's Wiles
As a lover of fairy tales and folktales, I was surp...more
My one unfulfilled dream: to pen a collection of children's folktales from around the world...I'd love to set sail on one coast, pen & paper in hand...and meander throughout all of children's literature - from roots upward—lore, magic, tales told over the hearth from forests to deserts to icy vistas....JUST as this book does with its magnificent array of of heroine's in folktales from around the globe. Loved it, loved it, loved it! 10 stars!
This book was recommended to me by a friend after I expressed my disgust at the current selection for girls in the age group 8-12. There is the usual, useless "princess" tales, the constantly in "puppy love" tween, vampires (um not appropriate), and the myriad of unhealthy, abnormal life circumstances presented by authors who definitely have an agenda. This book is not anyone of those!
This is a well thought, well researched book based on heroines from around the world. Stories or folklore of wom...more
This is a well thought, well researched book based on heroines from around the world. Stories or folklore of wom...more
A really wonderful collection of old fairy tales collected to highlight smart, talented, driven women from around the world. I laughed out loud at the clever Irish sisters and particularly enjoyed some of the stories from India & Punjab. My favorite was from Afghanistan.
I think I'm going to buy it- I want it on my shelf.
I think I'm going to buy it- I want it on my shelf.
great book with stories from all over the world about amazing women especially as so many fairytales involve men. one particular story which inspires me is about a king who wanted to marry a woman and she said i won't marry you till you have a trade, he got one and then the story goes on to say why it was so important
I loved these stories - kind of like Grimm's for girls! I recommend reading a handful at a time, as sitting and reading them cover to cover did get a little tedious for me - however, when I set it down for a while then picked it up again some time later, I was delighted all over again.
Such inspiring stories about empowering women. Finally, there is a collection of stories with female heroines who do not need to be rescued and therefore defined by a man. I will definitely read these powerful stories to my future daughter one day and even grand daughter.
This book is a great book for any lover of fairy tales, whether male or female. It's not too preachy or exaggerated on the feminist issue, it seems like the author/editor really just wanted to restore some of the fairy tales that were warped by Victorian ideals into their original state of being, and to add some new ones that have been previously overlooked or never encountered before.
I LOVE this book! It is full of fairytales where the women are quick-witted and strong. There's no need for Prince Charming, and if he does appear, he's the one who needs the saving!
What I read was very interesting and informative, but I only read selections and now will pass it along to a very good friend who is active in theater production as a dramaturg.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. I devoured this anthology. I thought it was wonderful, and very beautiful! I would recommend this to any woman. It is very empowering! Loved it!
Great concept for an anthology. Most stories are 2-5 pages, which I thought would make it a quick read, but instead made it the opposite. Each story started right into the action or characters and you had to pay attention carefully to follow what was going on. The author put a small paragraph of her reactions at the end of each story, which seemed odd at first and later became my favorite part. She would talk about how her children reacted to the stories or who she identified with or how the sto...more
This is a great collection of fairy tales, focus on the original telling where women play a key role in their survival or future. Recommended for those who are tired of a man's view of fairy tales where women seem to always be the old hag, the witch or the wicked step-mother. Did you know Cinderella had a father, who did not claim her as his daughter to the Prince? Just one example of finding and learning from the original version.
I love love love collections of folk tales, and this is one of the best. A very wide variety of cultures and styles, with interesting annotations.
If, like me, you looked forward to those stories in the Grimms' collections in which there was a clever solution to a piece of trickery, or a particularly cunning way of defeating the nemesis, you will love that these tales have been collected by Kathleen Ragan to engage your mind, albeit on a different level. Ragan collected these stories - pre-existent, not written by her - from all around the world. They are stories that feature heroines: females who are worthy of emulation and around whom th...more
Fantastic fairy tales and essays/thoughts at the end of each. Centers around heroines.
This a marvelous source book for stories about women from many cultures.
Great stories, but the author commentary is a bit absurd.
I enjoyed this collection of folktales with women as heroines. I didn't always agree, though, with the editor's interpretations of the stories. It's just a personal preference, I think: I would rather not be told how to interpret a piece of folklore, because I think the timeless nature of a folktales lies in its malleability, its need to be held in different hands and molded and misunderstood and retold. If the editor's interpretations hadn't been so heavy-handed, I would have given this collect...more
I did not find Ragan's commentary useful; it often seemed only half-related, or a half-hearted platitude based on the tale in question. The folktales stand on their own, and did not need individual wrap-ups. They were intriguing choices, and it was fascinating to read in these tales ideas about how gender is composed and displayed through many different cultures. As a work, I found it incredibly useful in examining certain motifs in European folktales. Ragan's introduction, however, was much mor...more
Read the forward as well as the two tales from Iran; lost interest.
Sep 24, 2007
Nicole
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
females, young and old
Shelves:
other-fiction
A wonderful collections of tales from around the world highlighting heroines.
Females are so often taken out of folk tales, or they are merely saved by some man. Here are classic tales from cultures the world that show this isn't the case. These women do the rescuing and have the brains.
I've used this book for bedtime stories at Girl Scout camp, and the girls always enjoy them. It's about time they start hearing old tales of how awesome their gender is.
Females are so often taken out of folk tales, or they are merely saved by some man. Here are classic tales from cultures the world that show this isn't the case. These women do the rescuing and have the brains.
I've used this book for bedtime stories at Girl Scout camp, and the girls always enjoy them. It's about time they start hearing old tales of how awesome their gender is.
A great collection - comprehensive, varied, enjoyable and educational. This is not modern revisionist anthropology, but the results of deeper investigation into traditional cultures, mining them for the stories of powerful women that most collectors and editors since the Brothers Grimm failed to find sufficient for inclusion into the canon. This new old collection strikes at the heart of the canon, proving that feminism is anything but a new idea.
Lots of wonderful stories starring women and girls from cultures all over the world. Truly excellent!
Serena turned me on to this one. Fairy tales from the female perspective with female protagonists. The author gives statistics on how many females are actually represented in available literature (precious few!) Although i did not enjoy all the tales equally, there are enough great ones to make this collection a worthwhile read. The last story is my favorite!
The folktales themselves are great and it is a fun collection to read and re-read. However, the commentary after each tale I found to either be helpful or unrelated or just silly. Maybe if I ever have children I will be able to relate more to he quips about the women in her stories and her children. Read this book for the collection of tales.
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Aug 22, 2011 09:51am