The Cow-Tail Switch: And Other West African Stories (Newbery Honor Book)

by Harold Courlander and George Herzog

Book Overview

17 stories make up this unique collection of folktales brought to life by illustrations throughout the text.

"The stories of West Africa are about men and animals, about kings, warriors, and hunters. They tell about clever people and stupid people, about good ones and bad ones, about how things and animals got to be how they are. Sometimes they are just tall tales. There are stories about Frog, Rabbit, Turtle, Guinea Fowl, and all...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312380062
• ISBN13: 9780312380069
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Notable collection of African Folktales

Looking for African folktales? Look first to the work of Harold Courlander. He is one of the finest folktale anthropologists of his generation. "The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories" is one several of his books which are of interest to Africanists. (He also authored several similar books of folktales and traditional literature from other parts of the world.) In 1947 when "The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories" was first published, there were far fewer books of this kind than there are today. Two things that make Courlander's work stand out, even now, are: 1) his well written prose, and 2) the notes, which give the reader more information about the story, where it came from, and how to understand it in the context of the culture that produced it. This second point is especially important today, when a lot of books of so-called "African" stories are published without any background information at all. This collection of stories, all from Western Africa, is great for kids and adults. (Harold Courlander is also the author of "The African", which bears many similarities to "Roots" by Alex Haley, though Haley's book was published years later.)

Cow - Tail Switch and Other West African Stories

This book has many great stories in it and I enjoyed each one dearly. One of the all the stories that I enjoyed the most was the Cow-Tail Switch. It was very entertaining and descriptive. I really liked how the sons have magical powers to revive bodies. The details were pretty interesting too. Only if this story was bigger, then it would be an outstanding book. This is a great book!!

This book has 17 African legends, many of them are funny.

I reviewed one of the many stories from this book, The Cow Tail Switch, which is the cover story. One day in the village of Kundi there was a brave hunter named Ogaloussa. He had to go out to hunt because he had 6 sons and one on the way. He knew they would eat a lot. The first day he had not come home the family was a little worried but not that much. After a week and 3 months of waiting for him they began to really worry. Then the baby was born and they named him Puli. Puli's first words were " Where is my father?" Another son said, "Yes, where is our father?" "I saw which direction he went," said another son. So the 6 sons set off to find their father. They found him dead with his body parts everywhere. One son said could he put his bones back together and another said he could put the flesh on. "We are not done," yelled another son, "He needs blood and I will give him some." "I can give him breath," said another son. "We are still not done," protested another son. "I will give him the power of movement." "I can give him the power of speech," said the last son and they put him back together. The sons brought Ogaloussa back to the village and everyone was happy to see him. The next day he made a very nice beaded cow tail and was going to give it to one of his sons. He ended up giving it to Puli who first asked, "Where is my father?" I would rate this story a 7.8 on a scale of 1-10 because it is a great story. I also liked this story because it was interesting how they put him back together