THE DIAL BOOK OF ANIMAL TALES

A British storyteller's collection of nine familiar tales gathered from around the world, from Australia to Thailand. ``Grandmother Spider,'' ``The Rabbit in the Moon,'' ``The Musicians of Bremen,'' ``The Monkey's Heart,'' and ``Sedna and King Gull'' are among the immediately recognizable tales. Adler acknowledges that many of the stories already exist in print (several in picture books) and credits storytellers rather than printed material as her sources. Many of the stories are origin tales, e.g., how Grandmother Spider brought light into the world. The Chinese tale, ``The Dragon and the Cockerel,'' stands out as especially fine. Spot illustrations cleanly light up crisp white backgrounds, framed with stylized border motifs and patterns. Each tale changes in tonal color rather than style. The watercolor and crayon method harkens back to classic children's book illustrations of the '50s in their simplicity and humor. Although this is a pretty package of tales, it has little to distinguish it from others already available. (Folklore. 6+)