Japanese Folktales for Children

Japanese Folktales for Children is a collection of Japanese fairy tales by author and illustrator Ty Hulse.  Asianmommy received a copy of this book for review.

This book contains eight stories:  "The Laughing Dumpling," "Crane Feathers," "The Badger and the Snail," "The Yokai," "The Mountain Kami and the Ugly Fish," "The Fox, the Puppy and the Rat," "The Two Frogs," and "The Witch of the Mountain."

My daughter's favorite story was "The Laughing Dumpling," a tale about an old woman who loved to laugh.  One day, while chasing a dumpling, she fell into a hole and was captured by an Oni, who loved to eat humans.  He did not eat her, but gave her a magic paddle for her to make endless dumplings for him to eat.  However, the old woman became homesick and decided to escape.  Would she be able to use the magic paddle to get back home?

What I liked:  I love that the author was able to translate these old Japanese folktales into English and be able to share them with many more children of the world.  My daughter found this book on my desk, read it, and told me how much she really liked it.  I also love the charming and beautiful illustrations that accompany the stories.

What could be improved:  Honestly, I did see a few typos that could be corrected for the next edition.