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thewallflower00's review against another edition
4.0
Ah, here's some bread and butter -- folk tales and female protagonists. This isn't exactly "Rejected Princesses", but it's a nice change from all the fairy tale compilations I've read in the past (Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Book of Goodnight Stories) where, if the hero is a girl, her objective is to learn some kind of domestic skill (like Rumpelstiltskin) or how to stop being a bitch (like The Frog Prince).
In this book, sometimes the female hero is just a substitute for a boy (there's a very Jack and the Beanstalk-like tale at the end), but several remind me of Mulan. There's marriages, there's fighting, there's monsters, as there are in most folk tales. Nothing new there.
Like any short story collection, it's a mixed bag, and it's hard to judge stories written nine hundred years ago. I don't know if there are better collections out there, but this seems like a good one to start with. It's a breath of fresh air from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and if you liked Brave, this will accompany the coffee table nicely.
In this book, sometimes the female hero is just a substitute for a boy (there's a very Jack and the Beanstalk-like tale at the end), but several remind me of Mulan. There's marriages, there's fighting, there's monsters, as there are in most folk tales. Nothing new there.
Like any short story collection, it's a mixed bag, and it's hard to judge stories written nine hundred years ago. I don't know if there are better collections out there, but this seems like a good one to start with. It's a breath of fresh air from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and if you liked Brave, this will accompany the coffee table nicely.
tiffanymae2022's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
emdoux's review against another edition
Read: Atalanta the Huntress, Pretty Penny, Molly Whuppie
bibli0rach's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this much more than my youngest. It was hard for her to stay interested. My 8 year old liked it, too. Great stories of strong girls from different cultures around the world.
emlickliter's review against another edition
5.0
Not One Damsel in Distress by Jane Yolen – I loved this collection of stories, not only because it lacks the hand-wringing, faint-of-heart girls in a tizzy that get nothing done, but because it is a lovely curation of courage and adventure! Happy Reading!
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