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Book: 'Spanish Tales'

Genre: children's stories

Rating (1 to 6): 5

As you know, this week here in @booksy0 We're celebrating the upcoming Children's Book Day by dedicating an entire week to our favorite books for young and grown children.

Just in time we got "Spanish Fairy Tales" from Miranda Publishing. And today, so to speak, we're serving up this suggestion for an April 2 gift or just a read to delight the child in you. You can also read more about the book on our blog - the link is the profile description.

The book contains several beautiful folk tales from our not-so-distant Spain, magically illustrated by Sergio Rizzato. The tales are a breath of fresh air because they present a different way of storytelling, without pomposity, without the typical Disney (and not only) "gilding" of the plots. As we know, Spaniards are hot, happy, solemn, passionate people and these tales really suit them. They tell of unknown kings and queens, magicians, but also all sorts of folk.

The plots are sometimes simple, often mundane and that makes them timeless. It allows us to associate with them.

The tales sound more like stories preserved by being passed from mouth to mouth, and less like made-up plots. Of course, as is typical of fairy tales as a genre, they contain lessons and life lessons appropriate for adolescents.

One story will teach us how harmful it can be to be stingy or lazy. Another will describe how a beauty managed to stain her beautiful dress by snacking on greasy munchies. With a sharp mind and a kind heart, she quickly discovered how to remedy the situation and became a queen. Well, and if that's not a lesson applicable to every kid's everyday life. Okay, okay, definitely in my everyday life too. We will be taught how "harmful" lying is and how precious love is. How hate ruins you first and how shared happiness increases.

I don't want to give away more about the plots because they are really interesting and often with unexpected endings. So I can talk more about the illustrations. They are colorful, but overly patterned. The style tends to be more appropriate for older children, not because there's anything disturbing, just because they're close to reality. And the stories, as I may have repeatedly mentioned, are too.

So, this is a new title, great for an upcoming holiday gift or just to add to the family library. Both young and old will enjoy it.