Halimah and the Snake and Other Omani Folktales

Grace Todino-Gonguet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 190529963X ISBN 13: 9781905299638

Publisher: Stacey International, 2008

Over the centuries, the travelling tribal peoples of Arabia established a tradition of story-telling. These tales of magic and mystery, passed from generation to generation of Bedouin tribes, spanned the Arabian peninsula, but were rarely, if ever, written down. In Halimah and the Snake, Grace Todino-Gonguet has collected and re-written for a fresh audience, a handful of stories from Oman s folktale heritage there are many more. As with folktales and legends worldwide, the creatures and characters are at times terrifying and fantastic, the stories always enthralling, and invariably seek to impart some moral guidance to their young readers. In this first collection we discover how three enchanted birds come to the rescue in the remote desert, learn what happens when a tree can talk, and revel in the suspense of an Omani equivalent of The Sleeping Beauty. Throughout, Susan Keeble s enchanting watercolours bring these stories vividly to life.

From the Publisher:

'Halimah and the Snake' will appeal to children aged 6-10. These enchanting folktales will appeal widely. For any class studying Arabia, this book will prove an invaluable aide.

About the Author:

Grace Todino-Gonguet is a published technical and travel writer whose three children (Gabriel, Raphael and Lucie) asked her to now write something for them. Born in the Philippines, she has been an expatriate for nearly 30 years, having lived in Thailand, the USA, Gabon, the Netherlands, Malaysia and France. She now lives with her family in Oman and they retreat to a granite farmhouse in northern Portugal when it gets too hot in the summer. She is currently researching and writing a book on the Arabian horse. Halimah and the Snake is her first book for children. Susan Keeble s distinctive watercolours have been exhibited at galleries internationally, including the Royal Scottish Academy and the International Guild of Artists, and in Dubai, where she lived for five years. She is regularly commissioned to paint the Henley Regatta. Susan and her husband, the writer Charles Gidley Wheeler, divide their time between their homes in Gloucestershire, the Auverne and Portugal. This is her third children s book (all published by Stacey International).