The Big Book of Fairies

by Denise Despeyroux, Sara Ruano (Illustrator)

This magical follow-up to The Big Book of Adventure, The Big Book of Horror, and The Big Book of Knights, Nobles, and Knaves ushers children into fairyland. There, young readers will meet fairies of the forest and water, as well as fairy godmothers. The beautifully illustrated stories come from around the world, and explore many aspects of fairy life: Is there a separate fairy kingdom or do we share the same world? Do fairies live forever? How do they dress and what do they eat? What happens when humans disobey their laws? And can fairies and humans fall in love?  The book even includes some more familiar figures from beloved fairy tales!

 

THE STORIES INCLUDE:

The Ballad of Tam Lin

The Legend of Knockgrafton

The Vengeful Fairy Lagree       

Titania, Fairy Queen (abridged from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

The Fairy Melusina       

The Love Story of Niulang and the Fairy Zhinu

And more!

Genres: Fairies

111 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Escritora y guionista uruguaya, Denise Despeyroux también ha destacado como dramaturga, actriz y directora teatral.

Residente en España desde hace varios años, Despeyroux ha participado en varias obras con gran éxito. Además, ha trabajado como traductora y ha publicado varios libros dedicados a un público infantil, como son ¡Atrévete a pensar! o El gran libro de las hadas.

En cuanto a la poesía, Despeyroux publicó en 2003 la antología Palabras de amor de Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a book to educate myself on faerie lore, and that is exactly what I got with The Book of Faeries. I love faerie stories, but I always find myself wondering where these myths came from and what the original story had to say about the myth.

As a huge fan of Greek Mythology, I grew up reading educational books on myths (my favorite is D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths), and wanted to find something similar in the faerie genre—a general and basic, but comprehensive overview

The Big Book of Faeries gave me exactly what I was looking for—a fast, quick, and beautifully illustrated overview of faerie lore. I know have a more comprehensive take on the retellings I read, and will have a better idea of a story’s background the next time I delve into a faerie story.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is full of lovely illustrations but, I'm not sure its a bedtime story type book as its much too long. Might be okay to read a bit at a time, but I found the story a bit explain-y.