Thai Children’s Favorite Stories, Fables, Legends and Fairy Tales, curated by Marian D. Toth and illustrated by Patcharee Meesukhon is a fun peek into traditional Thai culture for Children.
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Thank you to Tuttle Publishing who kindly sent us a copy of this book to read and review.
Thai Stories
There are nine stories in this book, all of which get children thinking about things such as:
- How the Bay of Bangkok Came to be
- Why do we have thunder and lightning?
- How the Thais Learned to Be Calm
- The Gold Harvest
- Princess Golden Flower and the Vulture King
- The Wisest Man in Siam
- There is no Such Thing as a Secret
- How the Tiger Got Its Stripes
- The Footprint of the Buddha
At the end of the book is a two page glossary of terms that are used in the book so that children can look up any meaning they do not understand.
The illustrations are fun and a little bit like animation to tell the stories of life long ago and explain different aspects of Thai culture and answer children’s questions that we may not have an appropriate answer for.
How The Thais Learned To Be Calm
This is a story that warns about how something very minute can have a chain reaction that can lead to disaster and turn friends and family into foes. It also shows how finding a common purpose can unite people. Tell this story the next time you see retribution and see if you can unravel the cause of the strife, or at least implement a truce.
Why Do We Have Thunder and Lightening?
This short story is one I haven’t come across before. A little of the mental imagery isn’t so friendly, but when children find thunderstorms frightening anyway, this story of Mekhala dodging among the clouds and hiding from Ramasura as he throws an ax towards her (thunder) and she deflects it with her crystal ball (lightening) makes something to ponder, and seeing a graceful goddess as the clouds part to clear sky, is something to look forward to.
Why There is no Such Thing as a Secret, How Did Tigers Get Their Spots, and The Footprint of the Buddha were also interesting.
None of these stories are terribly long in this 63 page book; they average about about 6-8 pages in length each, so each story is easily readable in one sitting. You can use this during circle time or to gather children and calm them after lunch or an outdoor activity when they may be a little more rambunctious.
These are fun stories, each with a bit of a moral lesson to be learned as well. Which is just as fairy tales should be.
If you’re interested in purchasing Thai Children’s Favorite Stories, it’s available through:
- Tuttle Publishing
- Amazon
- Great bookstores near you
If you’d like to know more or would like to follow Tuttle Publishing, you can connect with them through their website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest (and you can see our other Tuttle reviews here).
