HANA AND THE DRAGON AND OTHER TALES FROM JAPAN

Award-winning koto master, storyteller, and composer Elizabeth Falconer (who also has a degree in international education) uses all her talents here, sharing her interest in Japanese culture through this wonderful collection of stories. Other children's tapes use music as background or to punctuate stories, but Falconer's harp-like koto has its own voice, which is integral to these tales: It speaks of children playing, a mother's fear, a dragon's sorrow. Falconer uses her own voice, another pleasant and versatile instrument, to introduce a fully imagined cast of characters who transport children to another place and time, and help them feel at home there. An elegant intercultural addition to a child's listening library. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]