Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Derek Collard (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 48 These 21 fairy tales are elegantly formatted: full-page, intricately bordered woodcuts in navy and tan open each story, and a simpler one-tone figure appears at the end, all on high-quality paper. Garner has been faithful to the oral tradition of early times. These stories are for the ear rather than the eye, the plot evolving through physical action and repetition (often in rhyme), with the language, full of unusual expressions and dialect, adding to the authentic style. Most (except for "Tom Tit Tot," "Kate Crackernuts" and "Mally Whuppy") are not found in present-day collections. Many are about poor peasants' superstitions and folk ways in rural England and belief in witches and bogles. In his introduction, Garner explains why the traditional stories of the fantastic and supernatural were relegated to children's literature by the middle of the 19th Century. Sources are given for the tales in this collection. Excellent material for reading aloud, for telling and for just plain reading enjoyment. Mary Wadsworth Sucher, Baltimore County Reading Services
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

A collection of twenty-one traditional tales from the British Isles.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st U. S. Edition / 1st Printing edition (September 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385294255
• ISBN-13: 978-0385294256
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #500,271 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Book of Fairy Tales, April 30, 2007

By	Sarah Ray "lifelong bookworm" (Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Book of British Fairy Tales (Paperback)

I own a great copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, which is much more comprehensive, but this book is great for another reason. The style that this book is written in is unique because it is meant to mimic oral storytelling. I love that this is the whole premise for the book. Also, the illustrations for this lovely book are just superb. They're so vivid and imaginative. I had to stop and look at those gorgeous woodcuts at the beginning and end of each story for a good bit, just trying to appreciate the artistry. Wonderful book! I highly recommend it.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales, November 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

The title of this book is A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner. It is a short story book with 21 short stories.
The stories in the book are all related because they all are based back in time a long time ago. Also most of the stories have to do with death and marriage. In most of the stories there is a princess or a daughter of a king who has to do something or have some one else do something or else they will die. There are also a lot of mythical creatures like giants, bogarts, water monsters, and a lot of others too. One of my favorite stories is "The Seawife and the Crone". It is about a fisher who had been having a lot of bad luck and a sea creature (seawife) who comes out of the water and agrees to send him plenty of fish in exchange for the fisher's youngest son when he turned three. The story is the adventure that takes place after the fisher regrets his deal and doesn't bring his son to the Seawife. During the adventure the son finds a carcass of a sheep and decides to feed it to three animals; an eagle, an otter, and a wolf. Later in the story you can see how the eagle, otter, and wolf repay the son and fisherman by helping them.
Another one of my favorite stories in the book is "The Golden Ball". In this story, three daughters of a queen are given each one golden ball; they take the balls every were they go because if they loose the golden ball, they shall have to be hung. Well, the littlest of the three lost here golden ball at the park in a house; she tossed the golden ball up, up, up at the park and it went over a paling and rolled in to the house. The lad was going to be hung but a man said that he would go and get the golden ball for the girl; and marry her of course. So the guy went into the house and in the house there was a lady that said if the lad slept in the house for three straight days. But if the man moved while the bugs were on him then he wouldn't get the golden ball; after that, she would give the man the golden ball. So he slept in the house on the ground for two nights with insects crawling all over him. On the third night there were bogarts under the bed and they had the golden ball so he got the ball but will he get back in time? Read and find out!
I would rate the book a four out of a possible five because the stories were interesting but some of the stories didn't really make scents. I think Alan Garner has a great style of writing; for instance, he uses other names for things that we don't usually use here in America. These tales are much different then the tales that we have in America.