Strange Tales From Many Lands

by Freya Littledale

Strange Tales from Many Lands

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Freya Littledale (1929 - 1992) was a children's book author, adapter, and editor. Most of her works were retold fairytales.

Reviews

[Ugnė Butkutė · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A selection of creepy, eerie tales" maybe was true back in 1979. However, after 40 years this doesn't bring any shivers or creepiness to me at all. I guess American Horror Story and documentaries about serial killers got my immune pretty strong towards things that should be scary.

Nineteen different stories were gathered from such countries like Scotland, Spain, Korea, Japan, South America and etc. Usually, they all were like a folk type of stories where decent actions save characters from death or curses. In my opinion, the best stories were these: Tokutaro, Tiger Woman, Richmuth of Cologne, The Bird that Would Not Stay Dead.

Let me know which ones did you liked the most!

[Jon Shanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little collection with fab illustrations, but very brief stories, many of which barely begin before they're over.

[mtschettar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

All the stories were short and easy to read & interesting given their origin.

Good book.

[Megdep · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like that these tales come from all over, but many of them fell flat for me. And when I read one or two out loud to a ten year old, he was unimpressed as well. Either there wasn't enough build up of suspense (The Inn That Wasn't There) or they just weren't that scary. The ten year old and I liked The Shepherd's Choice, but we found The Water Bull rather silly. Overall, this is OK, but I did have to struggle to finish it. And I couldn't keep the ten year old's interest for more than a few stories.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, but if you are interested in reading it to your child, I think it is appropriate for children 5 and up. The stories aren't too scary and there aren't adult themes. It could be useful in illustrating that all countries have folktales, but I think there has to be a better collection out there.

[Bethtub · Rating 3 out of 5]

These aren't all scary, but they do have supernatural themes, and they're all decent. It's nice to have stories from non-anglo cultures that aren't 'exotic'. These have flavor without tasting like "diversity brand (tm) stories".