A Bedtime Full of Stories - Angela McAllister - ★★★★★

Author: Angela McAllister

Illustrator: Hannah Bess Ross

Genre: Story Collection, Children's Fiction

Rating: 5 stars.

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 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.