"SOUTH AND NORTH, EAST AND WEST: The Oxfam Book of Children's Stories"

Another anthology in aid of a cause. These 25 traditional tales--many collected by Oxfam field staff--are from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Their 22 illustrators include Nicola Bayley, Helen Oxenbury, and John Bumingham; the artists' styles vary as much as the tales. There are ghost stories from England, Jamaica, Malta, and Vietnam; a Brazilian creation myth; a trickster tale from Botswana. Several retain a vernacular style, as if transcribed verbatim from indigenous storytellers. Whoopi Goldberg's introduction is a beautifully simple statement of the value of knowing many different peoples' stories. Worth owning for literary as well as charitable reasons (solicitation included). Notes on the artists (mostly British); history of Oxfam.