A World Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Folktales: Stories from Six Continents [Hardcover]

Renata Bini (Author), Mikhail Fiodorov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000 | Grade Level: 3 and up

Luxurious, vibrant illustrations, a breadth of stories, large format, and a great price make this collection of myths, legends, and folktales a must for every family. Including more than 30 stories from the world's six most populated continents, this book contains beloved tales from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt as well as favories stories from the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Americas and lesser-known tales from such countries as Japan, India, and Uganda.

Each story is brief-great for bedtime read-alouds or story hours-and filled with heroes, animals, gods, and monsters who are sure to keep readers and listeners enthralled. This lavishly illustrated collection captures the intrigue and imagination that have kept these stories alive throughout the centuries.

RENATA BINI was for many years the editor-in-chief of a children's book publisher in Italy. She has written and edited many books for children that have been translated worldwide. She resides in Italy.

MIKHAIL FIODOROV is a Russian artist who has been illustrating children's books since 1971. Among the many books he has illustrated is Abrams' popular A Family Treasury of Bible Stories. Fiodorov was the recipient of the first prize at the Fourth Biennale in Warsaw and the Leipzig Biennale. He lives in Italy.

128 pages of illustrations in full color, 9 x 121/4"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the Judgment of Paris to Algonquian tales of Gluskap, the grandly scaled (9 x 12/") A World Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Folktales: Stories from Six Continents, edited by Renata Bini, trans. from the Italian by Alexandra Bonfante-Warren, illus. by Mikhail Fiodorov, retells 33 stories from every continent except Antarctica. Dynamic color illustrations on every page reflect the provenance of each taleAe.g., pictures accompanying a story about the gods Izanagi and Izanami suggest a traditional Japanese style, while those for a tale of Isis and Osiris share the same perspective and style as Egyptian tomb paintings. (Abrams, $24.95 128p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-8109-4554-1; Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-The brief retellings collected here span cultures from around the globe, with approximately one-quarter of them from Native North American sources. By necessity, the simple texts are condensed, using summarization techniques that weaken the action-packed stories. Climactic segments are limp. For example, Theseus's face-off with the Minotaur is reduced to, "The beast was very powerful and Theseus struggled for a long time. Several times he feared he was about to die, but he eventually managed to run his sword through the Minotaur." Bini includes "People and Places in Mythology," which divides the stories by continent and provides a paragraph summary about the characters and places, but there is no precise documentation. Fiodorov's skillful illustrations accurately reflect the text, making for an attractive presentation that will draw readers. A satisfactory further-reading list is appended.
Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1St Edition edition (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810945541
• ISBN-13: 978-0810945548
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 9.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,222,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, colorful, educational!, May 13, 2003

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"matreven" (Honolulu, HI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A World Treasury of Myths, Legends, and Folktales: Stories from Six Continents (Hardcover)

I choose this book to do a Read Aloud for my daughter's fifth grade class this past March. The students thoroughly enjoyed it. The colorful illustrations and the exciting tales had many of the students wanting to hear more of the stories. I read the
American Indian tales to correspond with their current classroom projects. This book is a fun way to learn about different cultures and beliefs.