Judge Rabbit and the Tree Spirit: A Folktale from Cambodia/Bilingual in English and Khmer

by Lina Mao Wall (Adapted by), Cathy Spagnoli, Nancy Hom (Illustrator)

In this well-known Cambodian tale, Judge Rabbit solves the problem of a mischievous tree spirit that has taken on human form.

Genres: Asia, Folk Tales, Picture Books, Childrens, Cultural

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1991

Reviews

[Willow]

We enjoyed this trickster tale from Cambodia.

[Daniel Te]

A pleasant folktale. I liked that the tree spirit seemed nice at first, knowing that pretending to be the husband would make both the wife and the spirit happy. It gets more morally questionable when the spirit husband continues to pretend to be the husband when he comes back though.

Judge Rabbit is a good character. I think the quote from Lina Mao Wall at the “About the Story” section sums this up well: “The character of Judge Rabbit shows good self-esteem and self-confidence. He believes in his ability to solve problems. He doesn’t care how he looks or how little he is compared to other animals. We tell Judge Rabbit stories to our children at a very young age to encourage them to be self-confident, intelligent, gentle, kind, and willing to help others out of their trouble.”

With this context, Judge Rabbit clearly is a good influence, and honestly, I would recommend reading these stories to the children.

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac]

Nifty.

[Gina]

I liked the illustrations.
I found the English translation is a bit stiff compared to the Khmer text. It includes details that aren’t in the original text.
The Khmer text is in a cursive style that is difficult to read and the size is much smaller than the english text. Not bilingual friendly :(

[Gina Barnett]

Great children's book to give as a gift. Unlocks culture by metaphorical stories. My son loves it.

[Kanatochi Kon]

Good

[Jean-Marie]

We read this to complement our middle ages history lesson about Southeast Asia.