A Knock At The Door

by George Shannon, Joanne Caroselli (Illustrator)

It's the original children's suspense tale! Thirty-four English-language stories from many different cultures (and one Spanish-language tale from Mexico) all share a common a dangerous character knocks at the door and pretends to be a familiar, protective family member or friend to those inside who have been warned not to open the door to strangers. But the door is opened, and there the adventures begin. These folktales include a wide range of narrative twists and diversity of tone. They come from Europe, Asia, Africa, India, and sections of the Americas. Supplementary materials examine the many approaches to illustrating A Knock at the Door and provide information on how to link the cultural context of a tale to an audience's interests.

Genres: Short Stories

184 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 1992

About the author

George Shannon is a popular storyteller and former children's librarian whose many notable picture books include Tomorrow's Alphabet, Lizard's Guest, and White Is for Blueberry. Tippy-Toe Chick, Go!, illustrated by Laura Dronzek, was named a Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor Book. George Shannon lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book totally by accident when I was looking for something else at the library. It is a collection of folktales from all over the world starting with Aesop’s “The Kid and the Wolf” and diverging from there. Whether the story spread and changed as cultures intersected or arose on their own due to the universal notion of “don’t open the door to strangers”, they are as varied and unique in their details, as the universal frame persists.

[Marielle Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the Cinderella and Beauty & the Beast collections, I found this one while shelving at my job in a large library. I had never considered the ancient story of "the wolf tricks the baby animals into opening the door while the mother is away" to be a universal fairy tale, yet apparently it is! It was interesting to see how, unlike with the former two books, there was a large amount of stories from both African and Asian countries. This makes sense given the universal fear of leaving your children alone while a (sometimes literal!) predator is just waiting to pounce. This was a very educational book and a pleasant surprise to read. Some tales were quite horrific, with a standout being the Japanese tale of a female monster (something like an ogre or demon) who eats the youngest son of three ALIVE while the other two are in the next room. When they ask what she's eating and she tells them it's pickles, they ask for a bite and she tears off their brother's FINGERS to give to them. It's only then that they realize they're stuck in the house with a cannibalistic monster. Unlike many tales, the youngest son stays dead at the end of the tale while the older two only manage to escape this monster by climbing into the heavens and becoming the moon and a star.

I'd love to read any other collections of fairy tales within the Oryx series. All that I've gone through thus far have been amazing to read.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales from around the world similar to Little Red Riding Hood (beware of strangers!)