Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories from Around the World (World Storytelling)
People of all ages love watching tricksters get into trouble—and wriggle right back out again. Today we laugh at characters like Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Ace Ventura, and even Bart Simpson. But tricksters have been around much longer than cartoons and movies.
Every culture in the world has its own clever mischief‑maker. In Africa, there’s Anansi the Spider. In the American Southwest, Coyote causes chaos. In the Pacific Northwest, Raven stirs things up. In the American South, Rabbit is always ready with a trick. Ireland has the leprechaun, and South America has the sly Fox. Josepha Sherman gathered forty of these wonderful stories from around the globe.
Sometimes the trickster is a person, sometimes an animal. Most are boys or men, but Sherman also shows that girls can be tricksters too. What they all share is a bold, curious spirit. They’re the kind of characters who say, “What happens if I try this?”—and then leap right in to find out.
These tales come from forty different cultures, including ancient Babylonia, Botswana, and China. Together, they show how people everywhere have used humor and quick thinking to teach lessons about caring for others, being fair, and using your wits when life gets tricky.
