THE BRONZE CAULDRON: Myths and Legends of the Worm

by Geraldine McCaughrean ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1998

Continuing their collaboration on collections of stories (The Golden Hoard, 1996; The Silver Treasure, 1997), McCaughrean and Willey serve up 27 stories from around the world, focusing this time on individuals. Heroes or villains, all the people who inhabit these pages possess an inner strength of character, or a sense of destiny and purpose. Included are brief tales of Siddhartha, Faust, Psyche, Buddha, Sisyphus, and the Golem, an episode from Finland's Kalevala, an Aboriginal story, ""Bobbi Bobbi!,"" and works from West Africa, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Central America, the Polynesian islands, and--it seems--the rest of the globe. McCaughrean's poetic prose is wonderfully rhythmic, and carries readers effortlessly along on waves of story. The pictures, as in the earlier volumes, are most effective when dealing with non-human elements, atmospherically conjuring settings that borrow from all eras, all regions. The endnotes, this time, are perfunctory and too brief to contribute to readers' understanding of the tales' origins, but the stories--brief and lyrical--carry the wealth and wisdom of the human experience.

Pub Date: May 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 130

Publisher: McElderry

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1998

Categories: CHILDREN'S