Book Review: St. Patrick's Day Tales

I went to Barnes and Noble today to pick up a book for a friend. And while I was there, I found a table of Irish tales in honor of Saint Patrick's Day next month. I ended up reading six stories, all picture books. The stories were so cute and the images so great, that I had to share. There are spoilers, but, then again, these are picture books.

KING PUCK is about a goat named Finny and his owner, Seamus. They live alone on a mountain. Well, them and the faeries. They get a little help from the faeries, and in the end, Finny is chosen as King Puck at the festival. And as a result, he gets a prize. All of my fellow book lovers will need to read this one.



The next two books are both about leprechauns. And what do we know about leprechauns? They make shoes in exchange for faery gold.

I became a fan of Tomie dePaola after reading STREGA NONA years and years ago. These next two books are great for anyone who loves a good Irish tale. Also, I love the artwork in his books.

This last story is an Irish ghost story and could be considered pretty creepy. Fergus, like several of the main characters in books already mentioned in this post, is a lazy, good-for-nothing, man. A theme in Irish tales I guess??? Anyway, he cleverly escapes death and turns himself around, leaving a good message for kids and their parents..

Book Review: The Wyrm King, The Wolves in the Walls, and The Blueberry Girl

I just finished read THE WYRM KING. It's the final book the in the Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series. I'm sad that it's over. There are no plans for anymore Spiderwick books. I love the poem at the end. The last stanza of the poem is as follows: Please keep a pen with you to write, a pad, a brush, and ink. Because your faerie tale just might... start sooner than you think.


And while I was at Politics and Prose earlier today I read THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS while Alexander flipped through a Star Wars book. It's a picture book written by Neil Gaiman. I had read reviews of it on Amazon and was annoyed at people freaking out saying that this isn't a kids book because it's scary. The artist is Dave McKean, the same guy that illustrates The Sandman graphic novels. I'm honestly not crazy about his art. It's not bad... it's just not my style. Anyway, I was expecting a scary story, and while I can see it scaring kids under 3, I found myself laughing several times. It was a cute story.

I also read THE BLUEBERRY GIRL a while back. It was also written by Gaiman, but illustrated by Charles Vess. Sometimes I like his work, sometimes not. I loved the illustrations in this book. The story was a poem written for a friend of Neil Gaiman's, Tori Amos, when she was pregnant. There were also people on Amazon saying this book was not for kids because it makes no sense. It's a very sweet poem.

If you take one thing from this... Don't trust Amazon reviewers.