Animal Tales, The Dial Book Of: From Around The World

animalGathers nine animal folktales from diverse traditions around the worlds, from the Cherokee “Grandmother Spider” to the Aboriginal “The Greedy Frog.”

Dragons

A wondrous anthology of ancient dragon tales to enchant readers young and old. “Do you believe in dragons? “Just a few hundred years ago, sightings of dragons were common. Ordinary people saw them; so did kings, knights, archbishops, and monks. Learned scholars wrote about them. Today, most naturalists say dragons never existed. So what exactly were the dragons that people claimed to see?” In this richly illustrated anthology, David Passes invites us inside the fantastic world of dragon lore. This superb collection of heroic myths, stories, and folktales from the storytelling traditions of India, Greece, England, Wales, Sweden, and China are brought to life by the fabulous illustrations of renowned fantasy artist, Wayne Andersen.

Eleven Turtle Tales

Turtle carries the world on her back: this story has been told by different cultures around the world for generations. Like Mother Nature, Turtle is unhurried, wise, and enduring. She walks on land, swims in water, and breathes the air and so embodies three of the four elements of creation. We have much to learn from Turtle.

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal

glassslipperOnce upon a time, in Mexico… in Ireland… in Zimbabwe… there lived a girl who worked all day in the rice fields… then spent the night by the hearth, sleeping among the cinders.

Her name is Ashpet, Sootface, Cendrillon… Cinderella. Her story has been passed down the centuries and across continents. In this anthology, Paul Fleischman crafts its many versions into one hymn to the rich variety and the enduring constants of our cultures.

Featured in WOW Review Volume X, Issue 3.

Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys

creepycreaturesCreepy Creatures and Other Cucuys presents the author’s retellings of fifteen traditional tales heard during his childhood in southern Texas.

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship

When Ethan and Cathy fall ill during a storm, their father must leave them to fetch the doctor. . .but they are not alone for long. A sailor comes begging for shelter. So, the children agree to let him sit out the throes of the storm as they listen to his grisly tales. But something about the man puts Ethan on edge, and he is anxious for the storm to blow over, their father to return and the long night to come to an end.  Storms whistling through the sails, evil pirates pacing the floorboards, and of course, a haunted ship of ghostly beings…  All this and more is waiting to give you goose bumps in an atmospheric and thrilling collection of spooky seafaring tales.

Tales from Outer Suburbia

These are the odd details of everyday suburban life that might forever go unnoticed, were they not finally brought to light by Shaun Tan. An exchange student who’s really an alien, a secret room that becomes the perfect place for a quick escape, a typical tale of grandfatherly exaggeration that is actually even more bizarre than he says… These are the odd details of everyday life that grow and take on an incredible life of their own in tales and illustrations.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Demons and Shadows: The Ghostly Best Stories of Robert Westall

Contains some of the author’s best ghostly tales, including “Rachel and the Angel,” “The Creatures in the House,” and the previously unpublished “Graveyard Shift.” By the author of The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral.

M Is For Magic

Stories to delight, enchant, and surprise you. Bestselling author and master storyteller Neil Gaiman here presents a breathtaking collection of tales that may chill or amuse readers—but always embrace the unexpected: A teenage boy who has trouble talking to girls finds himself at a rather unusual party. A sinister jack-in-the-box haunts the lives of the children who owned it. A boy raised in a graveyard makes a discovery and confronts the much more troubling world of the living. A stray cat fights a nightly battle to protect his adopted family from a terrible evil. These eleven stories illuminate the real and the fantastic, and will be welcomed with great joy by Neil Gaiman’s many fans as well as by readers coming to his work for the first time.