The Mermaid of Warsaw and Other Tales from Poland

by Richard Monte, Paul Hess (Illustrator)

Enchanting, wicked and often very funny, Poland's folk tales are one of the great treasures of Central Europe. Crowned by the story of The Mermaid of Warsaw , the eight colourful tales in this collection include Skarbnik's Second Breakfast , set deep in the Wieliczka salt mines, The Turnip-Counter from Karkonosze and The Copper Coin of Wineta , alongside stories from, Poznan and the Polish lakes. Paul Hess's stylish illustrations make this a collection to delight children everywhere.

Genres: Poland, Fiction, Childrens

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Richard Monte's latest book is The Salt Krasnals (Kindle Edition, 2013), the story of three dwarves who set out on a perilous journey to rescue their sister from a witch's forest. He is also the author of two collections of Polish folk tales, The Mermaid of Warsaw (Frances Lincoln, 2011) and The Dragon of Krakow (Frances Lincoln, 2008). His first children's book was The Flood Tales, an environmental fable based on the Noah's Ark Story. Richard is a regular reviewer for Carousel Magazine and has also contributed articles on Poland to the BBC History Magazine and History Today. He has travelled all over Poland, to the three major cities, Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk, and stayed on the Baltic Coast and in the Tatra Mountains. Visit his website at www.richardmonte.co.uk

Reviews

[Mir]

I'm not very familiar with Polish mythology so I don't know how authentic the stories are; they don't have a very folklorish feel but that may be the prose.

The illustrations aren't bad per se, but failed to add much. Why use cartoonish sketches (an ugly fat guy, a goat on a leash, etc) when you far more interesting and geographically specific elements are mentioned in the stories?

[Kornela]

This included 8 fables from Poland, most of which I was familiar with. I've heard many different versions of "The Mermaid of Warsaw," some of which are much better than the story that was included in this collection. My favorite story was "The Turnip Counter," in which a crafty young woman uses her wits to escape from the clutches of an ugly, foul tempered hunchback. The illustrations were nice and often amusing, but the stories themselves seemed to lack oomph.

[Monica]

Childrens book - it took me about 30 minutes to read it, and that was while I was kinda watching some show on TV. It was a retelling of Polish Fairy Tales, but unfortunately the author/reteller didn't have cleverness in them, which I think is important in fairy tales. Not worth the purchase, even if you collect fairy tales as I do.

[Robin]

Delightful ethnic tales, none of which I had read.

[GheenGirls]

Turtle: great! Return to library.

[Cheryl]

Hmm. Interesting enough, should be in collections... but unsatisfying imo. Young me would only have liked it a bit better, I'm afraid.

[J.M.]

At the back of this short collection of folk "tales from Poland" you can find the sources of the tales - compilations of folk stories collected in the 1800s, including stories not from Poland but Lithuania. I enjoyed the story-like retelling of the original legends. The illustrations don't fit the times and are more modern than they should be, but the stories are a pleasant read.

[Val]

The author has collected eight folk tales from what is now Poland and retold them for children. It is a pleasant collection, with some nice illustrations.