King Arthur and a World of Other Stories by Geraldine McCaughrean
| King Arthur and a World of Other Stories by Geraldine McCaughrean | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Ali Baker
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| Summary: An eclectic collection of short myths and legends from around the world | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 192 | Date: June 2011 |
| Publisher: Orion Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1444002379 | |
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The prolific, award winning author Geraldine McCaughrean has collected together twenty four stories from around the world in this highly impressive collection, garnered from four earlier collections. It includes the familiar from the Western tradition (Wilhelm Tell, Pygmalion, King Arthur) to those that are completely new to me, from Bolivia, Togo, Japan, the Middle East. The stories are no more than five pages long, making them ideal for bedtime reading (or hometime reading in a school).
McCaughrean's use of language is extremely interesting. Her sentences are fairly short, but she uses some challenging language, such as "the hot sun ricocheted from rock to rock" while assassins were hunting for Muhammed in the gorge on his flight from Mecca to Medina. However, the pace of the narrative will draw children in, and I am sure that many will revel in the opportunity to learn interesting new words.
My particular favourite is the Inuit myth "The Raven and the Moon", which explains the Moon's waxing and waning, but I am sure that every reader will pick a favourite. My only quibble with this book is that I think it would really benefit from illustrations, which would bring out the magical and mystical elements of the stories. However, this is a minor criticism, as the book has real eye-appeal, from the arresting purple cover with a picture of King Arthur with his sword, to the page layout with clear, well sized type with plenty of white space around it.
I am sure that children will really enjoy this book both in school and at home (and would be a great curriculum support for History and Geogaphy topics, or for less traditional Myths and Legends for Literacy study), and I can imagine children clamouring for one more story at bedtime, and parents giving in as they are so readable! I missed my tube stop more than once this week while reading them!
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Further reading suggestions: Magical Princess Stories by Geraldine McCaughrean and others
Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean
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You can read more book reviews or buy King Arthur and a World of Other Stories by Geraldine McCaughrean at Amazon.com.
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