Tales of a Chinese Grandmother: 30 Traditional Tales from China Paperback – August 1, 2001

I picked up this book in hopes of learning Chinese myths that were familiar from childhood and more ancient ones that my grandparents and parents did not share with me. I have to agree with other readers that the speech pattern can be difficult to follow at times, even as a bilingual person. I tried reading out loud in order to find the rhythm and calibrate the grammar but I found myself running out of steam. I think this is a book best read in chapters over tea and cakes by yourself. It is not a Mother Goose collection that can be easily shared with a child on your lap. However, it is an okay source to learn the stories so that the reader can retell to someone else in their own voice.

Excellent book. I got it as a thank you gift for a friend's children who are adopted from China. Worked out wonderfully.

This is a good collection of traditional stories with a nice framing story about a Chinese family. This book includes all sorts of classic elements of Chinese folklore like the eight immortals and the Monkey King. It even has stories that highlight some of China's older traditions. A good read for those who like Chinese folk stories.

Loved this book when I was a child but it didn't hold up well over the years.

I like reading fairy tales from different parts of the world. The stories in this book are interesting for children and adults.

Purchased for grandchildren.

Very good stories and a wonderful look into the old way in China.

I had this book as a child and am . I so happy to have found it again. I especially love the illustrations. I seem to remember them as having some color and these are in greyscale, but otherwise the stories are charming and it is a lovely book to have found again. It shows up well on my Kindlefire HD7.

I am not Chinese, nor am I a grandmother: I'm an English storyteller. While collecting traditional folk tales from all over the world I have developed a love of Chinese stories and rate this book very, very highly for style, content and readability. The 'frame' of a grandmother telling traditional tales to her young relatives gives a fascinating view of Old China in the nineteenth century; brief descriptions of everyday life in a wealthy family and the accepted belief in dragons, monsters and spirits put the stories in context. They also provide enough explanatory material for western readers and listeners in the twenty-first century. I enjoyed this book so much that even before I finished reading it I ordered 'Tales of a Korean Grandmother' by the same author.

Never received this book

Very interesting stories and also great to see the lives of people in China in the past. As a Chinese descendant, it was really neat to see how the grandmother combed her hair and made me think about my ancestors and their lives in the past