Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales - Lari Don - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Lari Don
ILLUSTRATOR: Elise Carmichael
GENRE: Folktale Collection
PUBLICATION DATE: June 16, 2026
RATING: 4.25 stars.


In a Nutshell: A collection of ten magical Celtic stories . Simply awesome tales! Only the illustrations didn't work too well for me. A great book for children (and adults) who love fairy tales.


This book contains magical stories from the Celtic isles. There is a wonderful map of the isles right at the start. I have long known the word “Celtic” but only when I saw this map did I realise how the Celtic Isles are places. The introductory note offers a little insight into Celtic geography and its significance.

The collection has ten stories, which is a bit disappointing to be honest. Each story was so delightful in its tone and content that I couldn’t help long for more.
The stories come from varied Celtic Isles: : Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany. Each location contributes one-two stories. The text retains the original Celtic spellings for proper nouns but there is a pronunciation key for all names at the start of each story – a brilliant idea.

Each tale feels like a proper fairy/folk tale. Some of the stories even get a bit gruesome the way the Grimm stories do. But this is authentic and never gratuitous. Many stories have magical creatures, not all of which are common ones. To my pleasant surprise, none of the included tales have scenes where any girl is forced to marry against her will or offered in marriage as a prize.

Quite a few also have some thoughtful lessons between the lines, so they offer a great opportunity for moral discussions. A couple of the stories are somewhat bittersweet, so they might not work for younger or sensitive readers.

I usually don’t rate individual stories in children’s books, but as this had only ten fairly-lengthy stories, I did rate them. Of the ten stories, eight earned four or more stars, with three stories getting the full score.

The illustrations are good, but not exactly my favourite style. But art is always subjective, so I hope will appreciate the graphics better. I do love the cover art, though.

The book ends with a fairly detailed background to the tales. This might not be interesting to young children, but to an adult reader, the information is fascinating. There is also a detailed glossary for all the difficult words.

Overall, this was a delightful collection that stays true to its promise of delivering magical folk tales and fairy tales from the Celtic Isles. It ought to be a wonderful book for all folktale-loving children. The book will makes a fabulous gifting option. The language is appropriate for ages 7-12.

My thanks to Floris Books for providing the DRC of “Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales: Magical Stories from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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