Can You Guess My Name?
Author: Judy Sierra
Illustrator: Stefano Vitale
Publisher: Clarion Books
Year of Publication: 2002
Genre: Folk Tales
Horn Book Rating: 1
Summary: Can You Guess My Name? is 15 folk tales that are based off of 5 main ideas. Each come from their own culture.
Summary of Professional Reviews:
The folk tales from this story are carefully selected with elements of many cultures within it. The tales are familiar but each one has a twist which makes it interesting. The Illustrations and elegant and bring out the cultures. The hand drawn designs and pictures bring the whole book together making it feel special and aged. One review stated, "An outstanding example of what folklore collections for children can and should be" (Horn).
Review by Janelouise Fuscellaro:
When I opened this book I was immediately taken away with the illustrations, the feeling the illustrations give the book bring the stories together. I felt like I was holding an old piece of literature because the drawing look so cultural and real. The 15 stories inside are just as great. They took one story, for example The "Three Little Pigs" and gave us three spin off folktales from that one story. Not only spin offs, but they included culture within.
This book would be useful when teaching:
Can You Guess My Name? would be useful when teaching students about different cultures. Each Folktale is based off of a culture around the world. Some example of this would be China: Hmong, Nigeria: Yoruba, and South America: Xhosa. Teachers could read a story from our culture, then read the folk tale that corresponds within this book. With the students, the teacher could talk about similarities and differences between the stories and cultures. I also think this would assist students who have someone from a different culture in their classroom. A story from a students culture could bridge a gap between the cultural differences in the classroom.
Summary of Professional Reviews:
The folk tales from this story are carefully selected with elements of many cultures within it. The tales are familiar but each one has a twist which makes it interesting. The Illustrations and elegant and bring out the cultures. The hand drawn designs and pictures bring the whole book together making it feel special and aged. One review stated, "An outstanding example of what folklore collections for children can and should be" (Horn).
Review by Janelouise Fuscellaro:
When I opened this book I was immediately taken away with the illustrations, the feeling the illustrations give the book bring the stories together. I felt like I was holding an old piece of literature because the drawing look so cultural and real. The 15 stories inside are just as great. They took one story, for example The "Three Little Pigs" and gave us three spin off folktales from that one story. Not only spin offs, but they included culture within.
This book would be useful when teaching:
Can You Guess My Name? would be useful when teaching students about different cultures. Each Folktale is based off of a culture around the world. Some example of this would be China: Hmong, Nigeria: Yoruba, and South America: Xhosa. Teachers could read a story from our culture, then read the folk tale that corresponds within this book. With the students, the teacher could talk about similarities and differences between the stories and cultures. I also think this would assist students who have someone from a different culture in their classroom. A story from a students culture could bridge a gap between the cultural differences in the classroom.