An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales - Hardcover

Breslin, Theresa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0863159079 ISBN 13: 9780863159077

Publisher: Floris Books, 2012

Synopsis

Slithering stoorworms, mischievious brownies, fierce kelpies and magical selkies -- these are the creatures of Scottish folklore.

Award-winning children's author Theresa Breslin has collected the best-loved tales from all over Scotland. Retelling each in its own individual style, she presents funny tales, moving tales and enchanting fairy tales. Soar with the goshawk, dive with selkies and battle with the stoorworm, as each story is brought to life with exquisite illustrations by Scottish fine artist Kate Leiper, which brim with otherworldly beauty.

A wonderful gift, this is a truly stunning book to be treasured for a lifetime and will be enjoyed by parents and grandparents as well as children.

Longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal 2013.

About this title

About the Authors

Theresa Breslin is a critically-acclaimed author of over 30 books for children and young adults. She lives near Glasgow, Scotland. Her work has been filmed for television, broadcast on radio, and is read world-wide in many languages. Her novels have won many literary prizes including the Carnegie Medal. She is a regular visitor at book festivals and schools.

Kate Leiper is an artist and illustrator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She studied at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen and her work has been exhibited in galleries from London to the north of Scotland. She has been commissioned for projects by the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Her inspirations range from Scottish folklore to Shakespeare.

From the Back Cover

This stunning, richly illustrated collection of classic Scottish tales, retold by Carnegie award-winning author Theresa Breslin, will bring years of delight to young and old.

Reviews

Gr 4-6-Breslin retells 11 tales that she heard in childhood and researched in literary sources, featuring a kelpie, a dragon, a brownie, and other figures, some human and some magical. The collection begins with the repetitive tale of the wee bannock, cousin to the gingerbread man, running down the road and goes on to longer romances and quests. "Whuppity Stourie" is here, along with a Cinderella variant. Breslin seems particularly interested in independent women, and one story is an extended telling of "The Goshawk and the Brave Lady" from Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders. Well constructed for independent reading, the selections sometimes become lengthy with extended explanations, description, and conversation so they aren't well suited to reading aloud or storytelling. Each tale begins with brief commentary on its region of origin or the author's personal preference for it, but no specific print sources are provided. Leiper's drawings shaded in muted tones portray the characters handsomely in scenes placed variously on a full page, to one side of the text, or above or below it. The bold dragon on the cover suggests a scarier panoply than is actually found here, and the endpapers and matching pages to introduce each tale lend a dark and sophisticated tone with phrases in varying sizes of lavender text scattered across a purple background. Large and heavy in the hand, the book offers a contemporary introduction to Scottish lore that tends to be represented in libraries by much older, more informative collections or picture-book versions of individual tales.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Bostonα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Floris Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0863159079
• ISBN 13: 9780863159077
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Leiper Kate
• Number of pages: 160