Anne Faundez

Bibliographic Information: Anne Faundez, “Little Red Riding Hood”, Illustrated by Elisa Squillance, Published by QEB Publishing, Inc., ©2004, 24 pages
Genre: Folktales, myth, fables and legends
Summary: Little Red Riding Hood was on her way to see her grandma who was very sick and take her a cake. Her mother tells her not to talk to strangers. She stops to pick flowers along the path when she meets the wolf. She forgot not to talk to strangers. She tells him about where she’s going and he says he’d like to visit her grandmother too. So the wolf takes off on a different path and beats her there. The wolf makes the grandmother get in the closet and waits for Little Red Riding Hood in the bed dressed like grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood asked him why he looks different and then asked about his teeth and he reply’s “better to eat you with.” He chases her around the room and woodcutter passing by hears and chases the wolf away. Little Red Riding hood, grandmother and the woodcutter eat the cake and live happily ever after.
Tags: Wolf, Scary, Learning experience
My Response: This stays true to the Little Red Riding Hood story I heard when I was younger. I like the hidden message in the story. I guess it’s not really hidden but I believe kids don’t realize that they were learning not to talk to strangers. I also like that this book has questions at the end to ask the students.… (mer)

I absolutely love pictures in this one! The Day the Rains Fell by Anne Faundez, illustrated by Karin Littlewood is a folktale-flavored story with beautifully colored illustrations that remind me a bit of a softened Trina Schart Hyman style.
Lindiwe looks down from the heavens at the earth and decides to visit and see that all is well. With her daughter Thandi, they visit grasslands and polar regions, forests and mountains. They swim and run with the animals. All seems well until they come to a vast plain where there is a drought. Lindiwe knows just what it needs - rain! Then she creates pots to hold the water and Thandi makes beads from the clay scraps left over. Lindiwe puts her pots into the ground to hold the water so the animals will never be thirsty again - and in gratitude, they each donate some colors and patterns to Thandi's beads to create a beautiful necklace.
There are two end notes, one on how pots are created in Africa and the other on beads. My one quibble (yes, you knew there was going to be one) is the completely lack of information about the story's origins and nationalities. The end notes just say "People all over Africa" and "In many parts of Africa" when referring to the pots and beads. The plot has a folktale-ish feel, but there's no information as to whether the author completely made up the story or if it's based on a particular legend. Is there a female African creation deity named Lindiwe? Is this a creation story specific to a particular tribe or area in Africa? Or did the authors just make up an interesting story and set it in Africa? I thought most people had gotten over lumping the vast variety of cultures, countries, customs, and beliefs contained in Africa into one big "African culture" lump, but apparently not. I checked on the publisher's website and did a quick search for "Lindiwe" and the book title, but didn't find anything.
Verdict: I can't honestly recommend this because just calling something "multicultural" and putting in a mish-mash of "ethnic" traditions isn't something I want to support, but the story was well-written and the pictures were lovely, really really lovely.… (mer)

This book is about many types of creatures that live in the sea. The book shows pictures of each creature and explains different characteristics of each creature.
This book showed the specific creature in color against a dark background to make them stand out. The pictures were eye catching and colorful. The descriptions of the pictures were simple and easy for children to understand.
This story could be used in an unit of sea creatures. The teacher could use the book to teach a science lesson on land animals and sea animals. This story could be used before an art lesson to promote a child's ability to draw their own sea creature or ocean picture.… (mer)