The Turtle’s Shell

Once upon a time…America, land of mountains, glaciers, tropical jungles and beaches. land of fantastic myths and legends, passed down orally by wise grandparents to their grandsons and granddaughters while sitting around a fire under starlit sky. These tales have been handed down from generation to generation and constitute the rich oral tradition of our ancestors. In America, the great majority of these myths and legends remain largely unknown to both us and our children. We are all very familiar with the European oral tradition of fairytales, like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, authored and compiled by a Frenchman named Charles Perrault, or The Three Little Pigs and Snow White, written by the German Grimm Brothers, who in 1812 published the first collection of over 200 stories which drew people closer to their tradition of tales and fables. As a mother and educator of my own children, I view this series of children’s books called Once upon a time. America as a way to awaken an interest in our history, culture and traditions by spurring the desire to gain greater knowledge about our ancestors, their native land, flavors, distinctive fauna and landscapes. These books are an invitation to review interesting and mysterious legends born from the Indian ethnic groups that inhabited the American continent for hundreds of years and whose descendants still continue to inhabit the land until the present day.