Tales of Enchantment

by Pleasant DeSpain, Don Bell (Artist)

Overview

A collection of nine traditional tales about leprechauns, dwarfs, shape shifters and other enchanted creatures from various countries.
This is the seventh installation of Pleasant DeSpain's "Book of Nine Lives" series. From the earliest times of storytelling, magic has been a part of the most thrilling of tales—when miracles transport heroes and transform the outcome of the story itself. In fact, the power of magic is at work whenever a story is told: the magician is the teller of the tale, allowing story, teller, and listener to become one.Leprechauns, dwarfs, shape-shifters, and the power of dreams—you'll meet them all, and more in these nine tales, including: "The Seven Stars" (Cherokee Nation), "Red Cap and the Miser" (Ireland), "The Birds of All the World" (Spain), and "The Silver Bell" (Denmark).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941460375
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 10 Years

About the Author

Pleasant DeSpain Bio: Pleasant DeSpain has a most unusual but true name and an equally unusual but true profession – writer and storyteller. He travels the world collecting, researching, writing and retelling traditional tales from native cultures. Born in Colorado, he wrote his first original story at age eight. It was published as “The Mystery Artist” in 1996. Pleasant taught speech-literature-drama for six years at three universities, and wrote-produced-hosted an award-winning TV show called “Pleasant Journeys” on KING TV, Seattle. Now, the author of eighteen award-winning, multicultural story collections and picture books, published by August House, has a home in Troy, NY and frequently travels to spend extended periods of time in Thailand. Pleasant continues to travel the world having amazing adventures. While living in Thailand he has continued to collect more stories and is working on a new book.

Editorial Reviews

The stories in volume seven of "The Books of Nine Lives" series would make excellent read-alouds by an engaging storyteller. When reading to one's self, these short tales of magic and supernatural powers are rambling narratives with no real story line and shallow characters. For example, the first story features a retired soldier who reads three words from an old book and thirty demons appear and ask for a task to complete. The soldier eventually realizes he can make them disappear by reading the words backwards. DeSpain identifies the country associated with the stories, mostly updated versions published previously in his newspaper column. Similar tales, however, have come from numerous countries. For example, Norway is identified as the country of origin for the story of Rose, who is married to a prince after she spins flax into yarn, turns yarn into cloth, and sews cloth into shirts, all thanks to the assistance of three ugly crones whose only desire is being called "Auntie" at her wedding. This story is reminiscent of Rumpelstiltskin. Brief information about the derivation of the tales and comparison with those from other countries would be interesting and useful. Clever small illustrations are randomly placed and add to the text. 2003, August House, Ages 9 to 12.
—Mary Bowman-Kruhm

Children's Literature

Gr 3-5-Each of these volumes includes nine folktales that have been collected from a variety of cultures and grouped by genre. While most good collections will have many of these stories in one anthology or another, grouping them this way makes them more accessible to children who may be overwhelmed by an extensive collection. By the same token, these books may encourage some children to seek out the many older compilations to see how the retellings might differ. Small ink drawings appear in each chapter. The titles conclude with useful notes on each tale, including storytelling sources and suggestions. These new additions to the series are great for sharing in a class or to hand to reluctant readers.-Diane Olivo-Posner, Long Beach Public Library, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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