A Book of Witches

by Ruth Manning-Sanders, Robin Jacques (Illustrator)

1. The Old Witch (England)
2. Rapunzel (Germany)
3. Lazy Hans (Germany)
4. The Twins and the Snarling Witch (Russia)
5. Esben and the Witch (Denmark)
6. Prunella (Italy)
7. The Donkey Lettuce (Germany)
8. Hansel and Gretel (Germany)
9. Tatterhood (Norway)
10. The White Dove (Denmark)
11. Johnny and the Witch Maidens (Bohemia)
12. The Blackstairs Mountains (Ireland)

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Witches, Classics

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Ruth Manning-Sanders, youngest daughter of an English minister, describes her childhood as “extraordinarily happy. . . with kind and understanding parents and any amount of freedom.” She read omnivorously, and she and her two sisters wrote and acted their own plays. A Shakespeare scholar at Manchester University, she later married Cornish artist George Manning-Sanders. They began married life in a horse drawn caravan, and traveled to all parts of the British Isles.
Mrs. Manning-Sanders has collected folk and fairy stories from around the world and she published more than 90 books during her lifetime.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grew up on a fair number of Ruth Manning-Sanders fairy tale collections. Nicely told for children with good illustrations.

A variety of tales, with only one with a good witch (and that one, "Tatterhood", has a number of evil witches too). I noticed it tends toward the idiomatic in translation. Includes "Rapunzel" and "Hansel and Gretel" but a number of others: kind and unkind girls are hired by a witch; a woman and her granddaughter mess up their protections; a girl is abducted over plums and meets the witch's son, and more.  Includes the country sources but no more.

[Andrew F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids book, but full of old stories about witches rewritten in a clear manner for children. Bought the same time as the Penguin Grimm's Fairy Tales and, obviously, this was the quicker and more satisfying read.

[Jaide · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect read for spooky season, fun with just the right amount of uncanny. My favorite folk/fairytales were:

-The Old Witch (English)
-Lazy Hans (German)
-Hansel and Gretel (German)
-The White Dove (Danish)
-Johnny and the Witch-Maidens (Czech)

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved loved loved this book as a kid. I was so happy to find it on kindle.

[eLwYcKe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely anthology.
A shame the witches are generally depicted as grizzled, ugly, stupid creatures. Nothing like the ones I've met!
These are stories for children, but re-reading them as an adult I love the comforting rhythms within each story.

[Cindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so happy to find this at a used bookstore. I delighted in these story collections by Manning-Sanders when I was growing up. Now if I could just find Book of Mermaids, my favorite!

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many fun stories! This is one of the best in the series. My favorite stories in the collection are "The Twins and the Snarling Witch", "Esben and the Witch", and "Tatterhood".

[Teresa Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories

Such memories fror when I was younger. Loved reading this then and again now. Truly fun. Love author's other books too

[llv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5 stars

I loved this book as a child and loved it just as much today. A wonderful reprint of a childhood favorite.

[Natascia Tieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Storie con streghe perlopiù cattive. Un libro leggero, perfetto per rilassarsi.

[Tez Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as a child and was so pleased to find it on the internet many many years later! I had chills down my spine reading it again as I remembered a lot of the stories and it was fantastic to read them again