Thanks for all these great suggestions of which story(ies) to read. I have the book from the library and hope to find time for a few selections soon!

I did like "The Hummingbird and the Flower," too, but mostly because it was so different from the rest of the stories. I just loved visualizing a conversation between a hummingbird and a flower :)

I don't really have any favorites, but in terms of stories that represent the book, I would go with either "El Enano" or "The Hungry Old Witch," as creatures with ferocious appetites show up in many of the stories. (On a side note, I actually found the giant bird in "The Magic Knot" slightly entertaining, although I don't think I was supposed to!) There are also several stories featuring fine, upstanding warriors, (*rolls eyes*), so reading something like "The Four Hundred" gives a good taste of that particular trend. One is enough, though ;)

The Tale of the Lazy People is a memorable one! I'm totally drawing a blank on El Enanu though! Ack!

I can't say I had any favorites, just some that were less tiresome than the rest. :-/

If I had to pick a couple, I guess I'd go with "The Tale of the Lazy People" and maybe "El Enanu" (I think "El Enanu" is the one where the giant baby eats everything in town until it is given uncooked potatoes and explodes?) LOL

Good question, Chandra. I'll actually have to flip through the book again, as my brain has already moved on. I think the fact that I can't think of any off the top of my head says something about how memorable the book is . . .

Great Kathryn! I'd love to know what you think!

Emily and Sandy (or anyone else who has read the entire collection) - I'm curious to know which stories you would pick as favorites or must-reads?

I'm also curious to see what my fellow folklore enthusiast (Abigail) will make of this book.

Chandra wrote: "Certainly Kathryn! In fact I don't think it's cheating at all. I actually think it sometimes detracts from the experience to sit and read a collection of stories from cover to cover. I think mor..."

Thanks, Chandra!!! :-) I have the book out from the library and will check out those stories. Looking forward to it, and to discussing!

Certainly Kathryn! In fact I don't think it's cheating at all. I actually think it sometimes detracts from the experience to sit and read a collection of stories from cover to cover. I think more enjoyment could be derived by a sampling so I'm glad to oblige!

The three I would recommend are:

The Hummingbird and the Flower - it might be my favorite of the stories. It's short and has a distinct style from the rest.

The Bad Wishes - a very unique and odd story overall.

A Tale of Three Tales - not because it's particularly amazing, but because it's really representative of the overall style of most of the stories.

I actually think that if some of the stories in this collection were reworked a little and illustrated that some of them could do quite well.

Okay, this is totally cheating but...

Chandra, are there a few stories you could select as favorites? Is the book such that I could just read those, get a taste for the book? Or are they all sequential or connected? I would like to give this a try, but I don't really have time for the whole thing, especially as it doesn't sound like an overly compelling READ ME! READ ME NOW! sort of book!

Omigosh I FINALLY finished this book. I usually really like folk and fairy tales so I'm still processing what it was about this book that made it such a tedious read. Because in reality some of the stories were really unique and interesting, but I just never got excited about picking this up!! Did anyone else feel like the stories got a little repetitive? The telling also seemed a little overly verbose at times. Anyway, I'm going to read back over the notes I took on this book (pushing up nerd glasses) and then I'll write up a full review. And then on to Shen of the Sea! Anyone planning on reading that one or am I all alone?

I've finally started reading (now that August is halfway gone!) So far, I'm actually finding the stories to be pretty pleasant - told in an interesting way that tries to recreate the oral storytelling experience.

My book arrived just in time today as I'm leaving for home tomorrow! HA! I might as well have had it shipped to my house, but oh well! I'll just start it when I get home!

P.S. I made sure to order the hardcover illustrated version (used) instead of that god-awful paperback that Sandy mentioned in #7.

I decided yesterday that I'm going to skip the honor books. My local library doesn't have either one (Hollins University doesn't, either), and while I could get them through ILL I don't think I'm going to bother. Unless, of course, someone comes on here raving about how amazing they are . . . but something tells me that's not going to happen ;)

My copy hasn't arrived yet, but I'm anxiously awaiting! Is anyone planning on reading the honor books for this year?

Finished it this weekend (one day earlier and I would have finished it in July -- drat!). I agree that the stories are very fairy tale-esque -- lots of beautiful maidens, ravenous witches, and brave, smart, handsome, strong heros. The interesting thing I noticed (and then as soon as I noticed this I read story that proved me wrong, of course) is that in most of the stories the evil came from outside the home -- a witch, giants, large bird. etc. There didn't seem to be as many evil (step)mothers/siblings/fathers in these stories as there are in the fairy tales most of us are familiar with.

Overall, an entertaining read. Not my all-time favorite book, but it definitely could have been worse :) I'm with Chandra -- I'll be happy when we're out of the 20s, too!

I didn't have any luck finding this book at my library or at the used bookstore so I ordered it used from amazon. Since I'm travelling up to Colorado for the next couple of weeks I had it shipped up there. So, it looks like I might not get this finished by the end of July.

There were 2 honor books in 1925 as well, but both look pretty hard to get ahold of. I'll still go ahead and post a discussion for those in August, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to track them down and/or read them. I was okay with buying Tales from Silver Lands this time around, but I'll go broke if I track down and purchase even the honor books ;-)

So, then September will be 1926 Medal winner Shen of the Sea - also apparently out of print, but I'll probably try to track down a used copy of that as well. I'm going to be happy when we're out of the 1920s as it doesn't seem to be a shining moment for children's lit ;-)

Ack!! I've seen that cover and I agree! It's horrible!!!

Don't dread it! It was just.....kind of weird. Not as weird as "Miss Hickory", but the stories were disturbing in an exotic fairy tale kind of way.

I actually blogged about the covers a few years ago; the new (well 70's, I guess) cover is *awful*.

Welcome back, Chandra!

Hi Chandra! Welcome back. I hope that you had a great time.

Hi! I'm back from my vacation and hope to get ahold of this and read it although judging by some reviews and comments I'm dreading it a bit!

Hi there, I just joined you guys. I liked "The Dark Frigate" a lot more than "Tales from Silver Lands". Finger's book was not my absolute least favorite Newbery winner (that would be "Daniel Boone"), but it's definitely in my bottom 10. ;-)

Has anyone else started this one yet? I'm not very far into it, but am enjoying it more than the last one . . . :)

Tales from Silver Lands was 1925's Newbery Medal winner. It is out of print, but still seems pretty easy to find. I doubt I'll be able to get to this before I leave on my vacation, but I do still plan on reading this and will likely get to it later this month, but I wanted a thread up in case there was anyone else who wanted to discuss earlier. Have fun!