Thanks to all who have responded. Here is a list suggestions.
Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories are all Pourquoi.
Ashley Bryan's retelling of The Cat's Purr.
Ed Young's Cat and Rat explains how the Chinese calendar came to be.
Look for books by Joseph Bruchac. Native American tales are often like
that.
I have used several of Rudyard Kipling's stories that are available
from Rabbit Ears (?) One is called the Elephant's Child, another is How
the Leapard got his spots, and there was another called How the Rhino
got his skin. There are some from Verna Aardema (I think) about how the
guinea hen got her spots. I once googled the pourquoi tales and came up
with several native american stories that explained why bears have short
tales etc.
Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories are all Pourquoi.
Ashley Bryan's retelling of The Cat's Purr.
Ed Young's Cat and Rat explains how the Chinese calendar came to be.
Check out Rabbit's Wish for Snow at this URL:
http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/
Fire race : a Karuk coyote tale about how fire came to the people
398.2 London, Jonathan,c1993.
With the help of other animals, Wise Old Coyote manages to
acquire
fire from the wicked Yellow Jacket sisters.
The first strawberries : a Cherokee story
398.2 Bruchac, Joseph,c1993.
A quarrel between the first man and the first woman is
reconciled
when the Sun causes strawberries to grow out of the earth.
The flute player : an Apache folktale
398.2 Lacapa, Michael.c1990.
The gift of the sacred dog
398.2 Goble, Paul1980.
The Great Spirit gives the sacred dog to an Indian boy
seeking
relief for his hungry people.
The golden hoard : myths and legends of the world
398.2 McCaughrean, Geraldine.1996.
Her seven brothers
398.2 Goble, Paul1988.
Retells the Cheyenne legend in which a girl and her seven
chosen
brothers become the Big Dipper.
How I faded away
I Udry, Janice May1976.
How night came from the sea : a story from Brazil
398.2 Gerson, Mary-Joan.c1994.
An adaptation of a Brazilian tale explaining how night came
to the
land of daylight, bringing rest and refreshment to living
things.
How Snowshoe Hare rescued the sun : a tale from the Arctic
398.2 Bernhard, Emery.c1993.
When the demons who live under the earth steal the sun
leaving the
tundra in darkness, the animals send Bear, Wolf, and
finally
Snowshoe Hare to bring it back.
How the Manx cat lost its tail
398.2 Stevens, Janet.c1990.
A retelling of how the Manx cat lost its tail in the door
of Noah's
ark.
The legend of Mackinac Island
398.2 WaWargin, Kathy-Jo.1999.
Retells the story of the great turtle Makinauk that enlists
the aid
of other animals to help create the special place known as
Mackinac
Island.
The legend of the bluebonnet : an old tale of Texas
398.2 De Paola, Tomie1983.
A retelling of the Comanche Indian legend of how a little
girl's
sacrifice brought the flower called bluebonnet to Texas.
The legend of the Indian paintbrush
398.2 De Paola, Tomie1988.
Little Gopher follows his destiny, as revealed in a
Dream-Vision, of
becoming an artist for his people and eventually is able to
bring
the colors of the sunset down to earth.
The legend of the lady slipper : an Ojibwe tale
398.2 Lunge-Larsen, Lise.1999.
In this retelling of an Ojibwe tale, a girl's act of
bravery to save
her family leads to the appearance in the world of the
delicate and
tender flower called the lady's slipper.
The lion and the little red bird
E Kleven, Elisa.c1992.
A little bird discovers why the lion's tail changes color
each day.
Maya's children : the story of La Llorona
398.2 Anaya, Rudolfo A.c1997.
In ancient Mexico, the beautiful and magical grandchildren
of the
Sun God are endangered by the threat of Señor Tiempo who,
jealous of
their immortality, plots to destroy them.
Moon mother : a native American creation tale
398.2 Young, Ed.c1993.
A retelling of a traditional Native American tale in which
the
Spirit that made animals and people falls in love with a
Woman
Spirit who becomes the moon he carries through the sky
every night.
Persephine and the springtime : a Greek myth.
292 Hodges, Margaret 1973.
The silver treasure
398.2 McCaughrean, Geraldine.1996.
The story of lightning & thunder
398.2 Bryan, Ashley.1993.
In this retelling of a West African tale, Ma Sheep Thunder
and her
impetuous son Ram Lightning are forced to leave their home
on Earth
because of the trouble Ram causes.
When the world was young : creation and pourquoi tales
398.2 Mayo, Margaret.1996.
Why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears : a West African tale
398.2 Aardema, Verna.1975.
Why the sky is far away : a folktale from Nigeria
398.2 Gerson, Mary-Joan.c1992.
The sky was once so close to the Earth that people cut
parts of it
to eat, but their waste and greed caused the sky to move
far away.
Why the sun and the moon live in the sky : an African folktale
398.2 Dayrell, Elphinstone1968.
My third graders love Why the Tides Ebb and Flow, by Joan Chase Bowden.
The illustrations are by Marc Brown, so it's fun to point out how
different his style is in this book compared to the Arthur books.
How the Whale Became, by Ted Hughes, is a collection of pour quoi
stories about creation. I haven't used it recently, but it should meet
the teacher's needs.
Why snails have shells : minority and Han folktales from China (
http://172.16.7..191/InfoCentre/FullDisplay.do?sourceStr=lib&id=3&pos=23
)
398.2 HANHan, Carolyn, c1993.
Twenty traditional tales from such ethnic groups in China as Mongol,
Tibetan, Yao, Han, and Miao.
Why the sky is far away a Nigerian folktale (
http://172.16.7.191/InfoCentre/FullDisplay.do?sourceStr=lib&id=2&pos=24
)
398.2 GERGerson, Mary-Joan c1992.
The sky was once so close to the Earth that people cut parts of it to
eat, but their waste and greed caused the sky to move far away.
There is a misoso book of African fairy tales and it has some. What
about epossomundos
http://ccb.lis.uiuc.edu/bibliographies/pourquoi_feb2006.html
http://www.cccoe.net/tales/pourquoibiblio.pdf
Francy Rains, Librarian
West Elementary
10101 Fulton Avenue
Lubbock, Texas 79424
frains@lcisd.net
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