I'm concerned. There's no author's note, no bibliography. Are these stories really representative of the cultures listed? The first story is an American version of the Bremen Town musicians... really?? Another story listed for the Americas is The Golden Horseshoe, which strongly resembles the several versions I've seen of The Princess on the Glass Hill. I don't know what's going on here, but I don't think it's really a lesson in multi-cultural diversity.

The pictures seem old-fashionedly casually offensive, too. Very stereotypical & simplified. And always *pretty.* The stories are *nice* - in both senses of the word. Even Disney didn't bowdlerize this much.

Maybe I'm over-reacting. Maybe it's ok that kids have these stories shared with them - it could be worse; they could have no stories read to them, no inkling of other cultures. I will keep reading. I just wish the author had addressed the concerns of authenticity.

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Ok done. Pirotta adapts even tales of known provenance, for example Andersen's The Princess and the Pea." I'm just so frustrated, as this could have been a wonderful collection. Some of the fables and little adventures are worth reading on their own merits - but this is an epic fail on any measure of cultural awareness. Sorry." ( )