Mee-An and the Magic Serpent

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Overview

Beautiful Mee-An wants to get married but can’t seem to find a man who is as perfect as she is. One day, however, her sister Assa finds Mee-An the perfect mate. Mee-An is determined to marry him, even after a series of bad omens occur. Off the sisters go to live with the perfect man, only to discover he is not at all what he seems to be. Will Assa be able to save her sister from a terrible fate? Baba Wagué Diakité's proves himself a wonderful storyteller, and his brilliant art ...

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Overview

Beautiful Mee-An wants to get married but can’t seem to find a man who is as perfect as she is. One day, however, her sister Assa finds Mee-An the perfect mate. Mee-An is determined to marry him, even after a series of bad omens occur. Off the sisters go to live with the perfect man, only to discover he is not at all what he seems to be. Will Assa be able to save her sister from a terrible fate? Baba Wagué Diakité's proves himself a wonderful storyteller, and his brilliant art brings village life alive.

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Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature - Gail C. Krause
Mee-An, the lovely older sister of Assa, is looking for a husband, but she is very picky. He must have no blemish or scars, and he must match her beauty. Suitors come and go, but none are suitable to Mee-An. Assa has the magical ability to transform into a fly. She searches the village for a perfect man, so her sister can be wed. When she finds an unblemished and handsome man, she tells her sister of this marriage prospect. Mee-An invites the man to dinner, but strange things happen that bid bad omens. Mee-An ignores the happenings and marries the stranger. Assa and Mee-An go with him to his home. He fishes all day and provides for them. One day the sisters decide to surprise him and they overhear him singing a song about fattening them up so that he may eat them. Frightened, they see him in his serpent form and beg the black heron to rescue them and take them home. The magic serpent becomes furious; his meal is snatched away, and he tries to jump high in the sky to drag them back down to earth. He fails, and that is why serpents live in water. The dust that he causes to rise in the sky in his attempt to steal back the sisters turned the black heron, white, and to this day a white bird sits on the back of farm animals in African villages. Mee-An learns that seeing a person is not knowing him.
School Library Journal

K-Gr 4
Diakité once again reaches into the rich folkloric heritage of his native Mali for this tale of the folly of trusting appearances. Beautiful Mee-An has decided she will accept only a perfect husband, someone without a single scratch, scar, or blemish. Her magical little sister, Assa, turns herself into a fly and believes she has found such a paragon. However, he is really a serpent who plans to fatten both girls and devour them. With the help of a black heron, they are able to escape, and Mee-An learns that "seeing a person is not the same as knowing them." Diakité's trademark ceramic-tile illustrations are on the recto while the cleanly framed text is on the verso. A well-designed and elegantly told addition to folktale shelves.
—Grace OliffCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780888997197
  • Publisher: Groundwood Books
  • Publication date: 3/19/2007
  • Pages: 32
  • Age range: 4 - 7 Years
  • Product dimensions: 8.20 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.50 (d)

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