Children's Books discussion

I just finished Celtic Tales and Legends retold by Nicola Baxter


I was familiar with a couple of the stories, and the rest were new to me. Although there is an introduction to the book, the author does not give the sources for her retellings. The stories are fairly short and the text flows well. The illustrations are colorful, with some Celtic motifs, and a few borders here and there.

Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland


I read an edition which combined Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland and Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands for a total of 18 unique Scottish tales. I was unfamiliar with most of these stories. And none of the tales are Scottish versions of well-known stories like Cinderella, etc. Well-written in a flowing style, such as a story teller would use in an oral telling. The stories all were romantic or adventurous, and it was refreshing to read stories I had not encountered a hundred times before. The reteller's introduction gives some background on traditional Scottish stories, and in the table of contents, the area of Scotland is given, where the tale is from.

More great collections:
An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales by Theresa Breslin
An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Mythical Creatures by Theresa Breslin
Celtic Mythology byNardo, Don
Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner
A Bag of Moonshine by Alan Garner
The Names Upon the Harp: Irish Myth and Legend by Marie Heaney
A Pot O' Gold: A Treasury of Irish Stories, Poetry, Folklore, and (of course) Blarney by Kathleen Krull
The Sailor Who Captured the Sea and Other Celtic Tales by Deborah Nourse Lattimore
Magical Celtic Tales by Una Leavy
The Mouth Of The Night: Gaelic Stories by Iris MacFarlane
Scottish Folk Tales for Children by Judy Paterson
Celtic Fairy Tales by Neil Philip
More Tales from the Welsh Hills by Ellen Pugh
The Little People's Pageant of Cornish Legends by Eric Quayle
Fireside Tales of the Traveller Children: Twelve Scottish Stories by Duncan Williamson

Thank you Beverly!
It is indeed refreshing to read folktales from a 'different' perspective... but I certainly didn't expect that Scottish tales would be so different from the English, French, German, and Danish that we are so familiar with.

Cheryl wrote: "Thank you Beverly!
It is indeed refreshing to read folktales from a 'different' perspective... but I certainly didn't expect that Scottish tales would be so different from the English, French, Germ..."

What I have found with most “national” folklore collections is that there will be tales uniquely Scottish, Irish, German, French etc. and then also those that have variants in other countries and areas.

That makes sense. But the ones in Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland were all unfamiliar, iirc. I really liked that book too.

I just finished another good one:
Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain & Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland
He divides the stories into six sections: Magic, Legends, Fair Folk, Men and Women, Wit, and Ghosts. There are 6 - 8 stories in each section. Some of them are retold in folktale style, but others are retold more as contemporary prose, in the first person by one of the characters. Anyway, I found all of the stories fascinating, only a few were familiar to me. It was illustrated with lovely silhouettes. In the back is a section that gives the source for each story.

The King with Horse's Ears and Other Irish Folktales by Batt Burns
This book contains 13 Irish folktales and legends, including Finn Mac Cumhail, Oisin, pookas, leprechauns and selkies. Each well-written tale has an introduction, and footnotes provide pronunciation guides for Irish words and names. The appealing illustrations look like oil paintings. The book concludes with a glossary and a source note for each tale.

Beverly wrote: "The King with Horse's Ears and Other Irish Folktales by Batt Burns
This book contains 13 Irish folktales and legends, including Finn Mac Cumhail, Oisin, pookas, lepr..."

I sure would love to read this book, the story of the King with horse ears reminds me a bit of the Greek tale of King Midas and his donkey ears.

the story of the King with horse ears reminds me a bit of the Greek tale of King Midas and his donkey ears..."

I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that the Greek story made it all the way to Ireland, and was refashioned for Irish ears.

The King Of Ireland's Son by Brendan Behan


Kate Greenaway medalist P. J. Lynch provides the beautiful paintings for this rollicking traditional tale, in which the youngest of the King of Ireland's sons rescues a Greek princess from a giant keeping her captive. This well-written, adventurous tale is lengthy and wordy--too long for most preschool children. The only source note given is that it was transcribed from a tape recording.

I first learned that donkey ears story in this book: King Lavra And The Barber, which is of Czech origin. I had it as a child and subsequently tracked down a copy a few years back. It's often misspelled as King Laura.

Michael wrote: "I first learned that donkey ears story in this book: King Lavra And The Barber, which is of Czech origin. I had it as a child and subsequently tracked down a copy a few years back. ..."

The story is likely of Indo-European origin.

Fairy Tales of Ireland by W.B. Yeats
Folklorist Neil Philip introduces these 20 fairy tales by giving some background on Yeat's interest in Ireland's folklore. Of course, the stories are very well written, and most of them feature fairies or other Irish folk creatures. In the back of the book are source notes for each story. An excellent collection.

The Legend of the First Unicorn
Loved the story and the watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil paintings. The story features a prince who refuses to smile, until a young girl creates the first unicorn to amuse him.
The Secret of the Kelpie
Only Flora notices something strange about the beautiful horse by the loch, which mesmerizes and seduces her siblings.
The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster
Two poverty-stricken children search for the hidden doors under Urquhart Castle, on the shore of Loch Ness, which are rumored to hide treasure.
All three books are by Lari Don and illustrated by Natasha Illincic.
Lari Don bases her fictional stories in these three picture books on Scottish legend, the source of which she includes in a note in the book.

Rónán and the Mermaid: A Tale of Old Ireland by Marianne McShane
Marriage of two topics I love--mermaids and ancient Ireland. This story was based on an old story (558 AD) in a medieval chronicle of Irish history, though McShane changed some details. Lovely story with lovely pencil and watercolor illustrations.

Children of the Salmon and Other Irish Folk Tales translated by Eileen O'Faoláin

The first edition I have was published in 1965. The blurb of the book tells the reader that most of the stories in the book came from old Gaelic storytellers of the West Country, who were recorded as they talked by their firesides in the late 1800s, and only a few stories had been previously published. The book contains 48 stories, a few of which are only a few sentences long, more like anecdotes than full-fledged stories. But most are full-fledged stories. The book is divided into 3 sections: The Fairy Faith, Wonder Tales, and Animal Stories. The stories are well-written, with the occasional Gaelic word inserted for authentic flavor. The book is best for older children and teens for independent reading, but many of the shorter stories could be read to younger children. A list of source notes in the back complete the book.

Magic and Myth: Ireland's Fairy Tales


Scott retells 11 traditional Irish folktales, of which I was only familiar with one: "The King's Secret." The stories feature fairy land, leprechauns, the SIdh, giants, Morrigan, the Devil, pooksas, and other Irish folk motifs. There are no sources listed, although Scott mentions in his introduction that he spent years traveling across Ireland colleccting hundreds of stories, legends, and myths. The author blurb states that he is an authority of mythology and folklore.
The retellings flow smoothly and read like fictional short stories.

An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Castle Legends


Breslin retells 11 Scottish folktales featuring a Scottish castle. A map in the front of the book points out where each castle is located. The tales are beautifully written, and the very large, excellent illustrations were executed by Kate Leiper. The book includes a glossary of Scottish words, but unfortunately, no source notes for the stories.

Legends and Lore: Ireland's Folk Tales


Scott retells 9 legends of Ireland so that they read like short stories. Incudes stories about Fionn, a leprechaun, the Oillipheist (a sort of dragon/serpent), a mermaid, and others. Interesting stories, some of Scott's favorites from the numerous stories he has collected over the years.