Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater Book

Judy Sierra has done it again! This sequel to the bestseller Multicultural Folktales to Tell Young Children is the kind of resource teachers and librarians adore because it helps them keep the magic of language and literature alive. It contains 20 short folktales from around the world ideal for classroom use as well as for story hours and suitable for grades K-6. The book clearly describes techniques of effective storytelling and is student-centered, stressing audience participation. Each folktale is accompanied by storytelling suggestions and by traceable patterns that can be used to make feltboard pieces or puppets for readers' theater.

School Library Journal

Judy Sierra's latest compilation of multicultural folktales will be most useful for those working with preschool and elementary school children. The book includes 20 tales, each in two formats: the first, in straight narration, is for use with the flannel board, a flat background to which the storyteller sticks characters; the second, in script form, is for use in readers' theater. Sierra offers many helpful hints for working in both formats, as well as notes on using each tale. She also provides drawings of feltboard figures that are simple, clear, and easy to reproduce. The figures could be enlarged for use as flat rod puppets in readers' theater. As the author explains, she chose the tales "from as wide a range of cultures as possible, with special emphasis on ethnic groups in the United States." She also looked for lesser-known stories that nonetheless feature the themes and ideas common to all good folktales. This book will stand comfortably beside Sierra's other titles on storytelling, feltboards, and multicultural tales, and it will be a welcome addition to teachers' and librarians' collections.Phyllis Mattill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN