Customer Reviews

The Ordinary and the Fabulous: An Introduction to Myths Legends and Fariy Tales

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This book is so very excellent I nearly cried with joy at having found it.

Furthermore, I thought long and hard about never reviewing it at all so the rest of you people don't lay hands on all the good books before they're gone (or $250 each, whichever comes first)!

Anyway, in The Ordinary and the Fabulous, the best and brightest of the Golden Age of Children's Literature's contributions to folklore, mythology and classical studies are reviewed and compared, with analysis of illustration, narrative style, age appropriateness, reading level and much more. Categories of book lists include a variety of European and Asian mythologies, medieval literature, folklore and fairy tales, and a vast middle chapter illustrates how different authors can retell the "same" story in dramatically different ways. The introductory chapters offer a rousing defense of great literature in general. Elizabeth Cook did the whole world a great service by writing this book.

Highly recommended for homeschoolers, afterschoolers, book fiends of all ages, and followers of the Well-Trained Mind or Core Knowledge approaches to education.