Asian Myths

This book is from a series created by Perfection Learning which incorporates vocabulary building and study of historical and cultural context in the reading of the stories. Each story includes a vocabulary preview, list of character descriptions, and a commentary which provides historical and cultural background information. At the front of the book is a map which shows the country of origin of each story. A broad range of Asian countries are represented, including the Philippines, China, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Laos, Thailand, and China. The stories are organized under the themes of gods and humans, love, friends and neighbors, smart and not-so-smart, and how and why. Compared with many other books of myths, this book does an outstanding job of providing concrete learning goals and presenting the story as a way to gain greater insight into that culture and its ancient beliefs.