From the Amazon to the Arctic, the world is teeming with diverse cultures. There's no better way for students to explore the world's cultural diversity than through its folktales. Presenting tales from the foundations of the world's traditions, literature, daily life, and popular culture, The Greenwood Library of World Folktales: Stories from the Great Collections gathers together a vast array of folktales and arranges them according to region or cultural group, thus allowing students to quickly and conveniently learn about the tales of particular cultures. Some of these stories have been told for centuries, while others have emerged only in recent times. The four-volume set includes introductory essays in addition to explanatory headnotes, and provides bibliographies on particular regions as well as a selected, general bibliography. The most comprehensive work of its kind, this set gives students and general readers a guided tour of the world's folktales. Each volume of the set is devoted to a particular broad geographic region: Volume 1: Africa, The Middle East, Australia and Oceania Volume 2: Asia Volume 3: Europe Volume 4: North and South America Accessible, informative, and entertaining, this book will help literature students learn how to analyze texts and understand the traditions at the heart of many of the world's literary masterpieces. It will also help social studies students learn about the world's cultures and respect ethnic diversity.

Covers tales that are the foundations of the world's traditions, literature, and popular culture and are fundamental to daily life.

Drawing upon the traditions of their native lands, Asian Americans have developed an extensive cultural tradition. At the heart of that tradition are some of the world's most colorful folktales. These reflect the traditional beliefs of the East, as they have been passed down among generations of Asian Americans. But they also reflect the struggles, successes, and experiences of Asian immigrants in the New World. Written expressly for students and general readers, this book is a fascinating introduction to Asian American folktales.This book gathers together a selection of more than 30 Asian American folktales and groups them in thematic sections on origins; heroes, heroines, villains, and fools; society and conflict; and the supernatural. These tales reflect the traditional beliefs of the East as well as the new experiences of Asians in America. Each tale is accompanied by a headnote, and the book closes with a selected, general bibliography. Students studying literature and language will learn much about these tales, while students in social studies and history courses will gain greater insight into the experiences and traditional beliefs of Asian Americans. The volume includes a healthy sampling of tales grouped in topical sections on origins; heroes, heroines, villains, and fools; society and conflict; and the supernatural.

South Asia is a distant, exotic place to most American students. It is also a land of diverse and fascinating cultures, exemplified by the folklore of the region. This book gives students and general readers a thorough introduction to South Asian folklore. Included are chapters on different types of folklore, the place of folklore in popular culture, and the scholarly response to South Asian folklore. The volume also provides numerous legends, tales, myths, riddles, jokes, and other examples of folklore from South Asia. The book closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources. To most American students, South Asia is a distant and exotic world. It is the birthplace of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, and the home of hundreds of languages. It is also a region of growing economic importance. Students, travellers, and general readers increasingly need to understand the regions's cultures and customs, at the heart of which is a rich and varied folklore. This book is a brief but thorough introduction to folklore from South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The volume begins with an overview of the cultural background of South Asia, and examines different types of folklore and the difficulties of defining and classifying folklore genres. It then provides a substantial selection of legends, tales, myths, riddles, jokes, and other pieces of folklore from South Asia. This is followed by a look at research on the subject, along with an exploration of South Asian folklore in literature and popular culture. The volume closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources.

Beasts of the World is a seven-part series, which seeks to investigate the histories, evidence, and common theories surrounding the numerous cryptid creatures that have been reported around the globe. In Volume 1. - Hairy Humanoids, we examine the diverse collection of hairy, bipedal, man-like monsters that are believed to inhabit the world’s remote and lonely regions and ask the question - do they represent a single species, or, could there be other lesser-known varieties of Wildmen, yet to be revealed? This book seeks to classify some of these distinct kinds and proposes a separation (even when two or more ‘types’ or ‘species’, appear to be sharing a similar geographic area) based upon key physiological and behavioural differences. And so, we find that the Man-Ape – Bigfoot of the Pacific Northwest, is something quite different to the Wildman – Almasti, of the Caucuses Mountains; and that the Relict Ape – known as the Yeti, is more akin to the Florida Skunk Ape, than the Chinese Yeren... Are these mysterious monsters surviving Gigantopithecus, extant Neanderthals, undiscovered apes, hidden tribes, or simply folklore and fable, repackaged for the modern world? Join me, as I go in search of these Hairy Humanoids and the many yet to be discovered Beasts of the World.

Asian populations are among some of the fastest growing cultural groups in the US. While books on serving other target groups in libraries have been published (e.g., disabled, Latino, seniors, etc.), few books on serving library users of Asian heritage have been written. Thus the timely need for this book. Rather than a generalized overview of Asians as a whole, this book has 24 separate chapters—each on 24 specific Asian countries/cultures of East, Southeast, and South Asia—with a wealth of resources for understanding, interacting with, outreaching to, and serving library users of each culture. Resources include cultural guides (both print and online), language helps (with sample library vocabulary), Asian booksellers, nationwide cultural groups, professional literature, and more. Resources and suggestions are given for all three types of libraries—public, school, and academic—making this book valuable for all librarians. The demographics of each Asian culture (numbers and distribution)—plus history of immigration and international student enrollment—is also featured. As a bonus, each chapter spotlights a US public, school, and academic library providing model outreach to Asian library users. Additionally, this book provides a detailed description and analysis of libraries in each of the 24 Asian countries. The history, development, facilities, conditions, technology, classification systems, and more—of public, school, and academic libraries—are all discussed, with detailed documentation. Country conditions influencing libraries and library use are also described: literacy levels, reading cultures, languages and writing systems, educational systems, and more. Based on the author’s 15 years of research and travels to Asia, this work is a must-have for all librarians.