Customer Reviews

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (Oxford Illustrated Classics)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the teacher of an elementary school program for gifted and talented children, I wanted to introduce my fourth-grade students to the wonderful tales of the Arabian Nights that I so enjoyed myself as a child. I scanned virtually every translation I could find and found strong reasons not to select any of them--the language was old-fashioned and stilted, making the wonderful tales dreary to read. Then I came across this translation and knew I had found what I was looking for. The author writes in a clear, accessible style that truly brings these wonderful tales to life for a modern audience. The enthusiasm my students show for these stories demonstrates McCaughrean's skill as an author. I highly recommend this book for both children and adults.

This is one of the best versions of these stories in my opinion, and is particularly suitable for older children who are ready to move beyond simple children's stories. The stories are only a bit "straightened up" for contemporay audiences, but they retain the language and the fanatastic elements that people turn to these Tales to enjoy. The stories also retain some of the violent and cruel plots twists of the original, another reason you may not want to use these as bedtime stories for little children.

All the major Arabian Nights stories and most of the minor ones are included; and the "frame story" of the Shah and his clever wife is carried throughout the book very nicely. Each story told by Shahrezade serves a secondary purpose of advancing the tale of the royal couple's evolving relationship, and so the ending is more truly satisfying than in any other version of the Arabian Nights.

The illustrations in 1996 edition by Stephan Lavis are good as well, and add to the storyland feeling of the tales. (The only quibble I have hear is with the white European look of most of the characters in the drawings.) I don't know about the pictures in the latest edition.

Words cannot describe the fantastic quality of this collection of Arabic literature. But don't get the book just to read the tale of Ala al-Din (Aladdin) and his Wonderful Lamp, because the other tales included surpass this merely moderate one by far - although it's interesting to find out that a black midget is Aladdin's primary nemesis (upon who Disney's Jafar is based, apparently).

The stories touch on such a wide variety of unusual topics: a man's visit to the kingdom of mermaids, a dead beggar getting tripped over again and again, a guy claiming to have several volcanoes in a portable bag, a Sultan's escape from a buffalo-faced woman in the presence of a group of pink ladies, and the marriage of a prince to a turtle. Insane stuff.

My favorite story is The Everlasting Shoes by far. It's quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read. It's about an old miser who's so cheap he never buys new shoes. He just patches up the pair he has whenever they get holes. The addition of so many patches naturally make his shoes bigger and bigger. Eventually the shoes become ridiculously huge and heavy and smelly, and they make a lot of noise as the miser walks. The scene of the shoes being thrown into the river and getting caught in the millwork is well worth the price of the entire book.

There's a story in here that looks VERY much like a mid-east version of Cinderella. Quite interesting.

I am unable to tell how many liberties the author has taken in translating the tales, but they're definitely fun to read. There are tons of ancient day metaphors and funny insults like, "You flea on a cockroach's kneecap!" and "Son of a plank! Did you steal your brains from a table?" I really liked reading the misfortunes of the protagonist in the Keys of Destiny stories, and the nagging wives that appear sporadically are pretty darn funny.

The things I didn't like about this book were very few. Only its frequent mentioning of Allah and the puzzling weakness of its 998th and 999th stories about a flying toy horse.

I would recommend the Arabian Knights to anybody over the age of fifteen; probably because I was so surprised at the large amount of enjoyable humor.

I have been searching for a decent copy of Arabian Nights for years. I originally bought the really nice, leather-bound, 3 volume collection....big mistake. Most 1001 Nights are translated by Richard Burton, whom you should stay away from at all costs. Although his translation is more accurate, it is HARD to read. It's written in old English with 10-line sentences.

That being said, this translation is much more enjoyable to read. Although it does not have every tale, it has all the major stories you are looking for including: Aladdin, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and Sinbad. This is for younger readers so certain points of the original were left out. For instance, the desire for the slave-girl Jesmin (in Aladdin) was romanticized a bit. Nonetheless, it is far more pleasurable to read than any version I came across. I suppose it's as child friendly as a story about a man murdering every woman in the world after he has sex with them can be.

Oxford University Press, 1993. Stories (meant for children) include fables, romances, narrative jokes,and fairy tales, linked to one another by the King and Queen's own love story. Shahrazad's attempts to stave off execution by telling just one more story have been expanded to fuller effect than in many versions. The book is written in a style that is clear, gripping, and poetic, conveying the flavor of the original and preserving the context of a magic, jinni-ridden desert world. 12 color plates and many b/w illustrations.

My seventh grader is reading this book to my second grader. They are both loving it.

Arabian Nights - The classic Tales of Adventure, thrilling suspense, romance and more. These Indian, Arabian and Persian mix tales are ever enchanting tales and an interesting read. The school syllabus picks up the best of the best Arabian nights stories into the text lessons since many years, esp. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Sindbad the Sailor and Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. All my fav stories but the most adventurous is Sindbad the Sailor. Why, I remember Pip the Sailor and of coz, Popeye but than, the classics are the ever best of the best on my book shelf. Even Ali Baba takes you on a dreamy path to being rich and Aladdin reminds of the Genie who obeys orders.

The tales are just poetic and take kids to a world of imagination. However, I guess if religion is pushed aside by avoiding repeat 'allah', I guess this book will be a great pick by all. However, kids are sure to love reading these lovely stories. A nice pick.

"Arabian Nights" is one of those works that everyone has heard of, but not many have actually read. Hence I decided to actually read it, instead of guessing the stories of Ali Baba or Abu Kasim. I am glad that I did.

"Arabian Nights" are well deserving their reputation as one of the best collections of fairy tales anywhere. Interwoven and connected by the young Queen wanting to stay alive, and managing to do so by telling her husband stories, the collection is amazing in language, style and sheer imagination.

Most stories take place in Baghdad, and instead of a war torn, news-exploited place, Baghdad became a place of magic and place of palaces and culture so deeply entrenched, that the entire world knows of them. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to go somewhere exotic and beautiful, even if it is just in thoughts. Great reading!

My wife and I were looking for a collection of the Arabian Nights stories that was authentic, yet also family friendly, since we intended them as bedtime stories for our children. This book gave us exactly what we were looking for. The stories have the feel of the Middle East and contain region and culture appropriate analogies that will be foreign to most. However, the stories were wonderfully devoid of the violence and sexual content that is contained in so many versions of these collections.

I was looking for a version of the story that I could read out loud with my 7yo daughter to give her an introduction to the monumental work. Although more "authentic" translations such as Burton's may be nice for the highly literate adult, there is no way that I could tolerate reading it out loud to someone. It would have been nice to have more of the stories included, but many of the major ones are in place and creat the jumping off place for literary discussion of the origin of some of our more modern tales to which a child would have been exposed.

If you are looking for a lighter version of the stories or want a quicker read to get an overview of the historial relevance, this version is for you. If you are wanting to read out loud, this is a nice version. If you are looking for the full force, heavy duty experience, then this is not for you. Go find Burton's multi-volume set.