Winter Tales by Dawn Casey and Zanna Goldhawk
Rating: 
Read before: No
Ownership: A Christmas gift via wishlist
Spoiler free review: No
This book is a collection of short “fairy tales” from different countries around the world. Each of the tales comes with an introduction of which country the story comes from and some background on it.
The book starts with The White Bear King which is the tale of the bear prince and the princess who goes with him and then sees him at night and has to go rescue him, from Norway.
Tanuki‘s Gold is a tale from Japan about a monk and a tanuki that visits him every winter instead of hibernating which I found very sweet.
The Mitten is short and sweet and feels like the kind of story that is a verse rather than a long tale, about a boy who loses one mitten in the snow and the creatures that find it ot be a cosy home.
A Cloak for the Moon is about the moon wanting a nice cloak but being unable to find cloth for herself until a brave tailor goes around on a quest for the Moon.
The Nutcracker is a familiar tale about a young girl, and an enchanted nutcracker gifted to her.
The Poinsettia is a tale from Mexico about why the poinsettias are called “Noche Buena” which is “Holy Night/the good night” as it was a gift during Christmas season.
Wee Robin Red Breast and The Little Black Cat are both are animals and winter and finding companionship and in similar sense feel shorter tales or verse tales.
The Snow Maiden is about a child made from snow by a couple and blessed by Winter to become a snow child.
The Silver Pinecones explains the tradition of painting silver pine cones thanks to a gnome king.
The Apple Tree Man is all about wassailing and blessings by taking care of what is given to you and nature.
Sister and Brother is about a pair of siblings that dont help their mother and end up having her taken away by Blizzard so they embark on a quest to rescue her and learn to be more helpful and kind.
The Mother of the Sea is about why winter nights become shorter and we get a nicer seaosn after ward.
The Snow Queen is a traditional tale of a queen that has inspired many other tales.
Rabbit’s Gift is a fun take on how what you give comes back to you in a way.
The Children and the Sun is a Southern African tale that I hadnt read before.
The Twelve Months is a tale about two young girls and how they see the world. I know this tale as the “Seven Days of the Week” but the actual results is the same on how the one girl is blessed and the other isn’t due to how they treat others.
Brigit and the Cailleach is the tale of the origin of Brigit.
Overall it is a lovely delightful collection of wintery and seasonal tales with stunnign illustrations and as I read it I felt like I was going back in time to sitting in my grandparents living room ont he floor reading the various treasuries of tales from different countries, and it was just a really nice read. I think you could also read this one tale each night to children and itd be a nice tradition for December for example.