Books by "Emma Umana Clasberry"
2 books found
The purpose of retelling these folktales is not only to impart cultural information to the young nor to preserve the stories for future generations. It is not only to entertain ourselves with the humor some of the stories provoke nor to learn from the mistakes of characters reflected in the stories so as to avoid similar consequences. It is also to inculcate moral values and discipline and social skills among the young and the adults of all races. Reading or listening to the stories also promotes good listening and right guessing, enhances logical and critical reasoning, sharpens our common sense, and improves our thinking skills. Let’s maximize every opportunity we have to use these valuable tools for educating the young as well as adults.
This book contains sixty-five old-time bedtime stories! Two opposite faces of Tortoise’s character are revealed here: the good and the bad. Tortoise, once loved and respected for his kindness, hard work, persistence, patience, wisdom, and super intelligence to dig out and solve the toughest puzzles or the most difficult and mysterious problems, is the same Tortoise who lost all that to lying, tricking, selfishness, revengefulness, greed, stealing, jealousy, and exploiting others’ weaknesses under the pretense of helping when he is actually out to hurt those he claims to help so as to achieve his goals. Parents, teachers, or others who use these stories for moral and life skills education should emphasize genuine moral values or virtues and also point out that how one gets to one’s goal should be as morally sound as the goal itself. So their discretion is crucial when addressing moral relativism, if any is obvious.