Angela McAllister

In a Nutshell: A beautiful illustrated collection of folk tales and legends from around the world, with every story being connected to a water body. Amazing stories, great diversity, excellent illustrations. Angela McAllister delivers again! Much recommended to little story lovers.

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I have been a fan of Angela McAllister’s folktale collections ever since I read ‘[b:A Bedtime Full of Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World (Volume 7)|56638372|A Bedtime show more Full of Stories 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World (Volume 7) (World Full of..., 7)|Angela McAllister|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1634035906l/56638372._SX50_.jpg|88501718]’ in 2021. Her books always feature appealing magical tales, legends and lore from across the world. And when I say ‘across’, I mean ‘across’ in every sense of the world. Unlike many story collections that claim to have global stories but end up with a majority of the stories being from USA and some parts of Europe, McAllister’s collections span every continent, and even contains stories from indigenous tribes. I have come to see her children’s compilations books as a reliable source of genuine folktales from across cultures.

Her latest offering, ‘An Ocean Full of Stories’, meets in every way the high expectations I had. The book contains fifty stories taken from multiple continents and cultures. Every story is connected to a water body, but there is no feeling of déjà vu. The stories reminded me of the folktale collections I used to read in my childhood, with every tale offering fun as well as a worthy lesson.

The fifty stories are divided across six theme-based sections. I appreciate how the tagline next to the title mentions the continent as well as the country/culture the story comes from. With the places being as disparate as Papua New Guinea, Isle of Mann, Philippines, Norway, Chile and Ghana, the book offers an amazing variety. There were two stories from India as well, but to my surprise, both were new to me. The sources of all the stories are presented in an appendix at the end.

The stories are written in an easy-to-understand narrative style. The official target age is 5 to 8 years, but because of some of the words and themes, this book would better suit kids aged 7 .
Every story is accompanies by some gorgeous full-colour illustrations. The graphics are always in sync with the tone of the story as well as the culture it is taken from.

Folktales are anyway among my favourite kind of children’s stories as they make me so nostalgic for my childhood storybooks. But with the strong narrative and cultural diversity of this book, it definitely stands a cut above. Most of the tales in this book worked excellently for me, so much so that I struggled to pick the ones I loved most. So the below listing is better read as a ‘best of the best’ kind of record.

My favourites from each section:
I. Fishy Tales:

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A young snow leopard named Little Mist is introduced to the world in this lovely picture book from British author/illustrator team Angela McAllister and Sarah Fox-Davies. Following his mother out of their den into a bright blue and white world, Little Mist learns about the mountains and the streams around his home, about all the many animals, and about the qualities he himself will develop, when he grows to maturity. After this first foray out, mother and son return to the den to rest, but show more Little Mist cannot sleep, standing at the opening of his home and looking out at the world...

I've been on something of a snow leopard kick recently, reading some amazing non-fiction picture books about this species, from Justin Anderson's Snow Leopard: Ghost of the Mountains to Sandra Markle's Snow School, not to mention Sy Montgomery's wonderful work of natural history for somewhat older children, Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. So it is that I sought out Little Mist, even though it offered a more fictional presentation on the subject. Here our feline friends are somewhat anthropomorphized, with the mother imparting wisdom to her cub through discussion, and by naming the qualities he will have. That said, it is based in fact, has a brief note about the Snow Leopard Trust on the colophon, and features absolutely gorgeous artwork from Fox-Davies! While on the whole I prefer Sandra Markle's Snow School, in which two snow leopard cubs learn actual skills like hunting by observing their mother, this would still make a lovely introduction to these animals, for younger picture book audiences. The beautiful visuals will certainly inspire admiration for the species! show less

In a Nutshell: A charming illustrated anthology of fairy tales and folk tales related to winter, taken from across the world. I continue to be a fan of Angela McAllister’s children’s story collections.

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This book has fifty stories themed around winter, each ranging from 1-4 pages. The tales have been distributed across six sections: Birds and Beasts, Tricks and Troubles, Ice and Snow, Quests and Journeys, Spirits and Magic, and Christmas.

As this is my fourth show more collection by Angela McAllister, I knew what I could expect from this themed work. And the book didn’t disappoint! In Mumbai, ‘October heat’ has begun, with the end of the monsoons resulting in the return of clammy days. So reading a bunch of winter stories somewhat helped in cooling me, at least virtually. The writing style reminded me of the storybooks I read in my childhood, so the collection also ended up making me feel quite nostalgic.

Every story is either a folk tale or a local legend from a specific region or culture, which is mentioned next to the title. The stories have been gathered from all over the world. Almost every human-populated continent (Australia being the sole exception!) is represented in the book. The countries are as varied as Argentina and Sweden, Mongolia and even Jamaica. It’s good to see such diverse countries represented in this anthology. There are many stories from the indigenous tribes of North America as well. (I appreciate how the credit for these tales mentions the tribe’s name rather than ‘USA’.)

Each of the tales is delightful as it contains an old-world kind of charm that is so typical of folk tales. The way in which winter plays a role in the plots varies. Some stories are merely set in the cold season, while some others have winter-based characters such as frost fairies and snow witches. The Jamaican and the Finnish stories in the last section had no direct elements of winter except that they were set during Christmas.

A children’s book, no matter how great in content, needs attractive illustrations as well. The sketches in this book match the requirements of the stories perfectly. Each graphic goes well with the region and theme of the tale, and adds the perfect flurry of cold elements to suit the winter theme. Every single story has at least one illustration, and some of the sketches are even full page ones.

Though a few of the tales were already known to me, I still enjoyed rereading them. I must mention the story ‘Alexander Jones’ from Scotland, which was hilariously frustrating. I simultaneously laughed and went ‘Aargh!’ at the end. show less

What a fabulous and eclectic collection this is!!! I loved it from the first page to the last!

This is a collection of 50 folktales and fables from around the world. And when this book says “around the world”, it does mean around the world, and it does so in a very fair manner. Unlike many other collections which contain most stories from the USA or European countries, some tales from Russia and just a couple of stories from elsewhere in the world, this book focusses on all parts of the show more globe equally. It groups the stories by regions such as Africa, Middle East, Australia and Oceania, North America, and so on. Within each region, the stories come from a variety of countries. Hardly any country is repeated. Thus what you get is a rich variety of culture and folklore from diverse narrative viewpoints. The stories too are distinct and most of them are not the typical fairy/princess kind of collection. You meet a whole variety of characters and encounter a vast range of situations. All this adds so much beauty and versatility to the book.

A few of the stories were known to me and made me feel very nostalgic as I remembered my childhood books. Most of the stories, however, were absolutely new to me. (Including the one from India! Supparaka the Mariner is a story from the Jataka fables but somehow, I had never heard of it before.) What I liked is also how the authenticity of the stories is maintained. For instance, the tale of Aladdin is exactly as the original Arabic folklore version and not the Disney movie version that so many books include. (You would know this if you know that the original Aladdin story contains two distinct genies, one from the lamp and the other from his ring.)

What works as the perfect icing on this scrumptious cake is the illustrations. They don’t overpower the stories but add subtly to their charm.

If you are looking for a beautiful bedtime stories collection for any little one in your life, this would be the perfect option! Heartily recommended to all parents and guardians and libraries and schools. (Of course, I’m not recommending it to schools as a bedtime story collection. But if teachers want an interesting and diverse story resource to narrate tales to their students, this book is perfect!)

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group, Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC of “A Bedtime Full of Stories - 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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