Reviews for ARBA Guide to Biographical Resources, 1986-1997

The average rating for ARBA Guide to Biographical Resources, 1986-1997 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-08-14 00:00:00 Glenn E Hopf "Discover Ukraine's long and fascinating history, its rich folk literature, and its deep cultural roots. A historical overview and an introduction to Ukrainian folk literature are followed by 33 traditional tales-humorous animal tales, instructive fables, how and why stories, heroic legends, and even spooky tales." An excellent resource for teachers, students, or anyone searching for a jumping off point to Ukrainian folktales. I sincerely appreciated the "Introduction to Ukrainian Folktales" written by Natalie O. Kononenko which gave me historical context and brief explanations of important artifacts and customs. "Ironically, when Ukrainian folklore was published, it was often published not as Ukrainian material, but as a subdivision of Russian folklore. Thus, Aleksandr Afanas'ev's famous collection, Russian Folk Tales, is not strictly a collection of Russian tales at all, but one that includes Ukrainian and Belarusian tales alongside the Russian ones (Kononenko, xxi)." The tales are divided into four parts: Animal Tales, How and Why Stories, Moral Stories, and Legends and Fairy Tales. Kononenko explained in her introduction that while most folklore is divided into legends and tales, with legends being considered true (how-and-why stories; moral stories) and tales being considered make-believe (animal stories; magic stories), those standards don't fit with Ukrainian folklore quite the same way. I also appreciated the introduction by the author, Barbara J. Suwyn, which gave a brief (but in my case) much-needed history of Ukraine. I'd definitely like to read more about its history in detail by way of non-fiction. Suwyn wrote in her introduction, "[i]n re-telling these tales, my goal has been to present traditional stories in a style more accessible to readers and listeners...But while there is something for everyone, not every story in this collection is for every reader or listener, and parents and educators should review specific tales before sharing them with any audience...(xxvi)." I'm sure she's referring to stories like "The Stranger" in which the young protagonist, Yaryna, finds her suitor "eating the flesh of the corpse!" Yeah, spoiler alert, he's a vampire, or at least, this story's version of a vampire. "The Doll" gave me the creeps, too. There are stories with similarities to well-known European tales like "The Doll" (Allerleirauh, Donkeyskin), "The Golden Slipper" (Cinderella), "The Frog Princess," and "Dovbush's Treasure" which features a historical figure called Oleksa Dovbush, much like Robin Hood, except Dovbush "purportedly...ambushed and killed many people, keeping a lot of the riches for himself (p. 97)." There's also a glossary and pronunciation guide as well as a bibliography. All in all, a wealth of Ukrainian folklore! I'll be on the hunt for a copy of this book from now on. Oh, wait! I forgot to the mention the eight pages with full-color photos. My favorite of those was "Path to the Windmill" by Alexander Tkachenko. 4.5 stars P.S. My favorite tale of the entire collection was "The Clever Maid" from Part III - Moral Stories. Natalka, a strong female whose physical appearance is not even mentioned, saved her father and herself, for which she was not rewarded with marriage, but instead the respect of the king, who from that day on, continued to seek her counsel with his most difficult problems. I'm rather surprised this tale wasn't included in any of the "female hero" collections I read earlier in January 2016.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-19 00:00:00 Max Dax It is a very nice book but as a Ukrainian I must say that they did not translate it very well. But, I do recommend it to English speakers as a jump start to the tales in this book. I really like it because it has brief history of Ukraine and shows you how to pronounce certain words. Not to mention that they list all the sources of where they got everything, which makes it reliable. The pictures are very nice Please just keep in mind that there are many variations of many of these stories as it really depends on the region in Ukraine. Again, this book gives clear credit to everyone involved and gives you their sources. At the very end they give you even more sources to learn about Ukrainian culture. (In America and Canada)