Wild and Wonderful by the Valley Talespinners

Joan Weller is head librarian at the West Branch of Ottawa Public
Library, and the children’s literature reviewer for the Ottawa
Citizen.

Although these Ottawa Valley tales are told in accordance with oral
tradition, the language in them lacks the cadence and rhythm so
important to storytelling. (A firm editor’s hand would have shortened
the sentences, deleted some of the dialogue and colloquialisms, and
improved the flow of events.) Furthermore, many of the characters lack
both realistic and fantastical appeal (in such tales as “Marshmallow
the Red,” “The Knotty Gnu,” and “Marvin’s Moose,”
anthropomorphism is carried to the extreme). Unfortunately, in being
adapted to print, these stories have been rendered lifeless, and the
accompanying amateurish black-and-white illustrations fail to revive
them. Not recommended.