Review of
New
England Bean-Pot, by M. A. Jagendorf
Five out of five stars
This is a
collection of short folk stories told and retold in the New England states of
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
They involve witches or accusations of witchcraft, appearances of the devil,
hauntings, traveling the ocean for fishing or commerce and examples of good and
bad deeds. In some, the execution of the bad deeds are the prelude to a lesson
learned that leads to a life of good deeds.
The stories are
segmented by state and have both local and general flavors. For example, the
stories involving the mischief of the devil could be located anywhere, but when
they are in a specific state, there is geographic context in terms of what the
people do as well as the weather they deal with.
These stories
would be useful in English language classes, where the purpose is to have the
class read and discuss the background as well as the topic. There is little in
the way of violence, they are designed to be read to children and pass along
aspects of the local culture.
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