MAGICAL TALES FROM MANY LANDS
adapted by Margaret Mayo & illustrated by Jane Ray
A remarkably felicitous collection of 14 stories from different traditions—the Arab ``The Lemon Princess''; the wonderful Zulu tale of ``Unanana and the...Elephant''; the Scottish ``Kate Crackernuts''; a Dominican tale with roots in Zaire; Indian, Native American, Chinese, and more. Mayo has chosen splendidly—these lively tales all deserve a wider audience, and their prevailing good-humored tone, plus the several strong female protagonists, is especially welcome; her lucid, direct versions are also beautifully paced. Ray skillfully adapts her entrancing decorative style, seen previously with biblical texts (The Story of Christmas, 1991, ALA Notable), to the stories' rich diversity, varying her illuminated effects with homelier vignettes, creating a masklike Baba Yaga that's at once scary and humorous—as well as a marvelously airy and delicate setting for the aboriginal ``Koala,'' and ranging, with ease, from the courtly to the comic. Beautiful and inviting—just right for wherever stories are read or told. Notes on sources. (Folklore. 6-12)