Mini Reviews (Becky): Fairy Tale Anthologies Continued

Fairy Tale Anthologies

I'm currently in a storytelling class where I learn to tell tales without using a book. Terrifying, right?  One of our major responsibilities is to read as many story collections as possible to find stories that appeal to us.  As Randi well knows, I dislike most of what I read, so this is really taking some digging.

My first row reviews the scary anthologies I have been reading and the second just shows some general collections.

Scary Stories

Passion and Poison, by Janice M. Del Negro.  This is a very small collection of YA horror stories to tell aloud.  I loved how each of them had a strong female protagonist, and a few of them were very familiar, as they had been adapted from traditional stories.  Del Negro really makes these stories her own by adding creeptastic imagery and new character names.  I loved the grayscale illustrations!
Here There Be Witches, by Jane Yolen.
Ask the Bones: Scary Stories from around the world, by Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwarts.

A Wolf at the Door: and Other Retold English Fairy Tales by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

General Collections

Ten Small Tales, by Celia Barker Lottridge Possibly the worst collection I've read lol.  I don't know if it is because these stories are aimed at very young children, but it seems like all the flavor has been washed out of these stories.  I could barely get through them, and this is a short book!  Needless to say I won't be telling any of these. The Boy Who Lived with Bears: and other Iroquois Stories, by Jospeh Bruchac A stunning collection of stories and images.  I would have no problem telling any of these, and I enjoyed the trickster tales.  My favorite was the book's namesake.  This collection has a lot of authentic atmosphere and spirit (or it feels that way to me).   A Treasury of Trickster Tales, by Valerie Marsh I normally don't care much for trickster tales, and I care even less for animal tales lol.  I thought this book did a good job with them, regardless, organizing by anti-hero and adding all kinds of supplementary telling devices such as sign language, cut outs, puzzles,etc.  Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Russia, by Virginia Haviland.   I would not mind owning this collection.  It has most of my favorites from Arthur Ransome's larger collection and streamlines the stories while keeping the colorful imagery and spirit.  I prefer Ransome's version of the snow child, however.  The illustrations are messy but atmospheric.