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Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark by Chronicle Books
geekwayne's review
5.0
'Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark' by Chronicle Books with illustrations by Ulla Thynell is a collection of 16 traditional tales.
The collection is broken up in to three sections: Transformations, Wit and Journeys. There are stories of bravery and courage and foolishness. Trust in the different is a theme and kindness is always rewarded handsomely. Reading these, it's fun to see the similarities and differences to stories I know.
I love the full color illustrations that accompany the beginning of each story. Overall, it's a beautiful collection and I loved the lure of a good tale told well.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Chronicle Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
The collection is broken up in to three sections: Transformations, Wit and Journeys. There are stories of bravery and courage and foolishness. Trust in the different is a theme and kindness is always rewarded handsomely. Reading these, it's fun to see the similarities and differences to stories I know.
I love the full color illustrations that accompany the beginning of each story. Overall, it's a beautiful collection and I loved the lure of a good tale told well.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Chronicle Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
rileaf's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
memol's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
3.0
Just a pleasant, general book of fairy tales. Lovely folksy illustrations to accompany each tale.
missbookiverse's review
4.0
Eine liebevoll gestaltete Zusammenstellung von 17 skandinavischen Märchen. Die Erzählungen sind in die Bereiche Transformation, Wit und Journeys unterteilt und jede beginnt mit einer ganzseitige Illustration der finnischen Künstlerin Ulla Thynell. Die Auswahl ist gelungen, da sie sowohl inhaltlich als auch von der Komplexität der Geschichten Abwechslung bietet. Am besten haben mir die etwas verstrickteren Märchen The True Brideund The Giant Who Had No Heart gefallen.
anaidelawless's review
4.0
I liked it, except for the story that was kind of confusing and way too long.
sarah_moynihan's review
4.0
Nordic Tales is a collection of traditional folk and fairy tales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark. All the stories are fairly short and quick to read, about ten pages each, the perfect length for a bedtime story. Although these would probably read better for older children or adults.
The book is divided into three sections, into which each story is sorted based on the messge it is telling: transformtions, wit, and journeys. The transformation tales teach the lesson to look past a person's appearance and instead take their measure based on the content of their character. The tales based on wit mostly taught the lesson of the importance of humility. And the stories in the section on journeys teach the leasson of perserverence.
The folk tales included in this book are lesser known than the tales you find in kid's movies or most other fairy tales books that you see. I went into this book expecting that I would know nothing of the folk tales within, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was familiar with several of them actually. I didn't know them in full detail, but I recognized bits and pieces of the stories. Some of the stories are very similar to one another in their content, like the ones that feature people who have been enchanted into the form of an animal and are freed from the spell by another character. There is still great variation between many the folk tales though and some are more engaging than others.
When needed the author has inserted notes at the bottom of the pages when a word or detail in the story needs further clarification or historical detail.
The illustrations in the book are gorgeous. The cover art itself is beautiful, but there is also one full page illustration at the begining of each folk tale. It looks like they were done maybe with oil pastels and they depict a scene or detail from the story that it is introducing. Ulla Thynell is a talented illustrator and has a good balance between light and dark in each on of her illustrations. My favorite illustration work in the book is the drawing created to introduce the story "Jack of Sjöholm and the Gan-Finn." It's a really beautiful dipcition of the northern lights over some snowy moutains by the water's edge. It's also the last illustration of the book, which I though was a great choice. It's so pretty that no other illustration could have followed it.
The book is divided into three sections, into which each story is sorted based on the messge it is telling: transformtions, wit, and journeys. The transformation tales teach the lesson to look past a person's appearance and instead take their measure based on the content of their character. The tales based on wit mostly taught the lesson of the importance of humility. And the stories in the section on journeys teach the leasson of perserverence.
The folk tales included in this book are lesser known than the tales you find in kid's movies or most other fairy tales books that you see. I went into this book expecting that I would know nothing of the folk tales within, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was familiar with several of them actually. I didn't know them in full detail, but I recognized bits and pieces of the stories. Some of the stories are very similar to one another in their content, like the ones that feature people who have been enchanted into the form of an animal and are freed from the spell by another character. There is still great variation between many the folk tales though and some are more engaging than others.
When needed the author has inserted notes at the bottom of the pages when a word or detail in the story needs further clarification or historical detail.
The illustrations in the book are gorgeous. The cover art itself is beautiful, but there is also one full page illustration at the begining of each folk tale. It looks like they were done maybe with oil pastels and they depict a scene or detail from the story that it is introducing. Ulla Thynell is a talented illustrator and has a good balance between light and dark in each on of her illustrations. My favorite illustration work in the book is the drawing created to introduce the story "Jack of Sjöholm and the Gan-Finn." It's a really beautiful dipcition of the northern lights over some snowy moutains by the water's edge. It's also the last illustration of the book, which I though was a great choice. It's so pretty that no other illustration could have followed it.
sudo2750's review
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
It was alright. Some stories were kind of interesting but some were grueling to try to get through. However I am a fan of darker folklore and mythology so if more light hearted explanations are your vibe you'll find this fairly interesting.
For me though it was getting really difficult to get through the last like 3rd of the book. The last story was the longest and the most boring in my opinion, though there were some good parts in it. It was nice how short most of the stories though so it may have just felt slow to me since these stories weren't my cup of tea to begin with
For me though it was getting really difficult to get through the last like 3rd of the book. The last story was the longest and the most boring in my opinion, though there were some good parts in it. It was nice how short most of the stories though so it may have just felt slow to me since these stories weren't my cup of tea to begin with
starklinqs's review against another edition
3.75
I love a good fairy tale, and these were nice short stories to read before bed. I do feel like I lost steam towards the end of the book, but maybe that’s just do to tiredness.