TALES FROM THE ENCHANTED WORLD
By
A posthumous volume from a master storyteller and collector of tales: 22 stories including the thoroughly familiar (""Cap o'Rushes,"" ""Tom-Tit-Tot""); stories that should be familiar but often are not (""Childe Rowland,"" ""Tamlane""); variants on well-known tales (""The Fifty Red Night-Caps"" is a simpler version of Caps for Sale, and ""White-Faced Siminy"" of ""Master of All Masters""); plus some wonderful less familiar stories including three that have not appeared before. Half are British; among the others are German, African, Chinese, and Jamaican. Language is vigorous, colorful, and accessible in the best folk tradition, like a gifted granny telling the children's favorites the way they love them best. Kemp's delightful drawings are everywhere--large and small, invading margins and spilling from page to page. Beautifully crafted and full of humor and details, they are in the tradition that reaches from Cruickshank to Sendak, yet remain entirely her own. Occasional full-color paintings enrich the handsome format without overpowering the stories. Fine for storytelling or reading aloud, this is also a perfect gift book, to be pored over and reread again and again.