KIRKUS REVIEW
From the creators of The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese (1997), a less ambitious outing: five tales from a workshop run by Norman (15 years ago), illustrated with art that tries to look like leaded stained glass. Except for “The Bird Who Sang Like a Warthog,” which resembles Rodanas’s The Blind Hunter (2003), the stories are new. A “Disobedient Daughter” forces Goolayyahlee the pelican to teach Aboriginal people how to make fishing nets; a “Beautiful Quail” survives a drought in Sri Lanka thanks to the kindness of others; and the transformation of residents of a remote Chinese village into swans when they die becomes “The Swan-Scholar’s Great Secret.” All told in the same formal, restrained tone, the tales receive individuality from the names of the characters, and also from evocative motifs in the stylized art—though the Dillons’ use of a diffuse line makes the colors look watery. Norman identifies the original tellers in a long afterword that’s more about the workshop than the stories. Though handsomely packaged, this pricey gathering won’t draw or keep the interest of child readers or tellers. (Folktales. 8-11)
