Songs for Survival: Songs and Chants from Tribal Peoples Around the World

Attractive in its presentation, this British import, an anthology of songs and chants from the tribal peoples of six continents, may exert its strongest appeal to elementary school teachers looking for supplemental texts about tribal cultures. The entries are divided into songs about ""beginnings,"" those that venerate the ""living world,"" those that discuss the elements and those that celebrate survival. Siegen-Smith samples an impressive range of sources; there are a dozen peoples from Africa alone. Lodge, meanwhile, works in a unified style, supplying lino-cuts that seem generally primitivist but are specific to no one culture. A repeated line of tiny figures dances across the bottom of each page while individual prints, faintly reminiscent of cave art or museum artifacts, embellish given songs. An entry grouped under ""The Living World,"" for example, a children's game from Thailand-- ""Crocodile! Crocodile!... You can't bite us!""--is illustrated with a design of bright yellow and green outlined in black, in the shape of a river crocodile, while a footnote explains the riverside game of tag that the chant typically accompanies. The volume includes an introduction and appendix written by Stephen Corry, director of Survival International--to which proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated--that discusses the importance of songs in all cultures and the location and customs of various tribal groups. Ages 8-up. (May)