Acclaimed Chilean children’s book author and editor Veronica Uribe gathers an array of western European folktales in Groundwood’s second Little Book collection. Uribe, who claims a longstanding fascination with folk tales, combines and adapts versions of tales by the Grimms and Perrault, and supplies notes influenced by theorists Bruno Bettelheim and Maria Tatar. Her selection includes both classics (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood) and lesser-known tales (The Seven Ravens, Bearskin), lending the collection a reach that goes beyond a reworking of old standards. Her adaptations to structure and plot are relatively minor, but thoughtfully explained in her endnotes, and the contexts provided are interesting for adult readers unacquainted with the history of folk tales.

Uribe’s writing is clean and straightforward, as a folk tale collection should be. But its tone, which seems subtly condescending, places the language at a remove. Perhaps it’s the result of translation, or perhaps it’s because these tales are being told as children’s stories – a whole other kind of translation with potential for a whole other sort of remove. While these stories are wonderful and appropriate for children – indeed, essential for them – they weren’t originally limited to children. For me, the dignity of a tale is lessened when considerations of age seem to outweigh the power of the language at its heart.

Colourful and strange, stilted and often angular, Murkasek’s full-page computerized illustrations have a cut-and-paste feel. The smaller ornamental drawings throughout are much more pleasing.