Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World

From Publishers Weekly Fourteen mini-mysteries are each followed by a solution and complemented by Sis's distinctive black-and-white drawings. Ages 5-up. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Scientific American Gr. 4-6. Shannon aptly combines folklore and puzzles in this short collection of 14 stories from around the world. The tales, not more than a page or two long, present situations in which someone figures out a problem or solves a mystery. Readers are then asked to suggest how it was done. For those who can't -- and many of the stories are abstract -- solutions are provided. Though children aren't likely to pick this up by themselves, librarians and teachers may find this effective as an introduction to folklore or other library units, and it should provide good brain teasers in work with the gifted. Black-and-white speckled drawings add decoration, and some are cleverly used in illustrating the answers. Short source notes are appended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.