Another retelling

After Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent directed their collective talents to Japanese culture in The Funny Little Woman. Readers of my earlier review won't be surprised by the following mixed response. Once again the pictures are engaging and delightful, and once again the story is a combination of wicked humor, appealing silliness, and local color, this time involving the eponymous funny little woman, a lost dumpling, underground Jizo sculptures, and monstrous oni. Still, there is an uneasiness about the claim to "retelling" an indigenous Japanese folk tale. Readers with more familiarity and expertise, what say you about the resourceful if somewhat laughable little woman who escaped the oni and acquired fame and fortune through magic and dumplings, and who exclaimed all the while, "Oh, tee-he-he-he"? By the way, this book won the Caldecott Medal.

Arlene Mosel (author) and Blair Lent (illustrator)
The Funny Little Woman
E.P. Dutton, 1972