Title: Tales from Old Ireland
By: Malachy Doyle and Niamh Sharkey
Age Recommendations: 6 and up
Have your copy delivered to your door
This book has been a "must have" in my house since I first saw it! My son's friends have named him the "Leprechaun" because he always wheres green and hit his teen age growth spurt later then most of his friends. He embraced the name and developed a fascination with Ireland and the culture. He's even working on learning the language on his own! So we were excited to sit down as a family and embark on these Irish adventures!
What's it about?
Tales from Old Ireland is a collection of stories with rich, deep Irish roots peppered with authentic names and terminology. These stories are laced with mythical creatures, love, greed, heroes and those not so heroic but every single one of them are fun, interesting and have a unique feel.
What did we think?
I enjoyed these magical fairy tales with my 16 year old son and my 8 year old daughter. I'm not terribly versed in the Irish culture so I wasn't sure what to expect but what I found was a collection of tales that have a very different feel to them then the ones I grew up with, I was a little disappointed in the severe lack of leprechauns within the stories.
And while each story is filled with fantastical magic and mythical beings, some stories were darker then I had expected, at some points even bordering on creepy. While I kind of enjoyed those aspects, as did my son, these particular aspects were certainly unexpected. I was also surprised by some of the characters.
Most of the time fairy tales follow characters that are lovable and that you are quickly drawn to. Not all of the main characters in this collection were not quite so appealing. This was especially true for me in "The Soul Cages". At I first I was kind of turned off by the combination of the not so appealing character mixed with talks of drinking and further topics that could be considered dark and creepy, however by the end of the story, my mind had been changed and, though I still did not like Jack, I did like the story.
I was, however, very excited to see a pronunciation key at the beginning of the book. It instantly brought ease and minimized the intimidation found while reading the table of contents filled with titles like "Oisin in Tir na nOg".
However, with all of the dark points, the colorful characters and the lack of leprechauns, we did enjoy the collection of Irish tales, each of my children eagerly announcing their favorite stories without much time needed to think. My daughter happily named her favorite tale as Lusmore and the Fairies, a story about a hunchback who befriended some local fairies with positive personal results, drawing the attention of others near and far who eagerly sought out the fairies for their own selfish ends. The story was fun and a illustration of what matters most, what lies in your heart, not the physical form.
My son was drawn to another story, however, one of a magical world far away filled with beauty and where nobody grows old. It's a story of love and chasing one's true happiness with acceptance of who they are. It was a story with a bitter sweet end and beauty in an unexpected package.
Me, on the other hand, I had a harder time deciding which story was my favorite. I found myself torn between my son's favorite story ("Oisin in Tir na nOg") and "The Soul Cages." Both were very different and unique but both pulled me in.
What do we rate it?
My son rated this collection a....
5 out of 5 leprechauns !
My daughter rated this collection a...
5 out of 5 leprechauns!
I rated this collection a...
4 out of 5 leprechauns!
Now that you've heard what we thought, tell us what you've thought! Did you like this Irish collection? Which was your favorite story? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
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