A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World

by Shirley Climo, Ruth Sanderson (Illustrator)

Published in paperback as A Pride of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World.
For those of you who can't get enough of beautiful princesses, magic spells, and brave deeds, this lavish, multicultural collection will knock your glass slippers off! Shirley Climo is well known for her retellings of folktales and Cinderella stories from different cultures, such as The Korean Cinderella. In this lovely treasury she spins tales of princesses from China, Russia, South Africa, Germany, Guatemala, and Greece, as well as one story from The Arabian Nights. Each story is enhanced with a lush painting by the noted illustrator Ruth Sanderson and an introduction summarizing other related fairy tales and the origins of the story. The princesses and their tales are all different, but they all have one thing in common: they all live happily ever after, of course! (Ages 6 to 10)

Genres: Fairy Tales, Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Folklore, Mythology, Classics

76 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 1996

About the author

Shirley Climo was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928. She attended DePauw University until her mother died unexpectedly in 1949. She dropped out of college and took up her mother's work writing scripts for the weekly WGAR-Radio children's program Fairytale Theatre. During her lifetime, she wrote 24 books including The Korean Cinderella; Magic and Mischief: Tales from Cornwall; A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World; A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World; and Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales. She died on August 25, 2012 at the age of 83.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shirley Climo - whose other folkloric collections include Magic & Mischief: Tales from Cornwall , Monkey Business: Stories from Around the World and A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World - here presents seven tales from diverse cultures, all featuring princesses of one kind or another. From the opening selection, The Moon Maidens, which relates the Chinese story of White Jade and Golden Bird, the lunar daughters of the Emperor of Heaven, whose modesty is outraged by the attention and adoration of the mortals below, to Psyche, the Greco-Roman myth of the beautiful human princess who wins the love of Eros (usually Cupid), the God of Love, and is eventually made immortal herself, these tales explore the idea, presented in the author's foreword, of princesses as characters who "get what they deserve." The other five selections include:

Gulnara, from the The Arabian Nights, in which a beautiful and wise young princess rescues her two brothers, Bahman and Perviz, from an enchantment, and reunites them all with their father and mother.

Prince Ivan and the Frog Princess, a Russian fairytale in which Ivan, the youngest son of the Tsar, marries a frog, discovers she is a princess under an enchantment, and must go on a quest to rescue her, when his foolish action in burning her frog-skin returns her as a prisoner to Kostchey the Sorcerer.

Two Brides for Five Heads, a Xhosa tale from South Africa, in which two very different sisters - Mpunzikazi and Mpunzanyana - meet with very different results, as a result of their different attitudes, when they are sent as prospective brides for the chief's son.

King Thrushbeard, a classic German fairytale from The Brothers Grimm, in which the proud Princess Lina, ridiculing her many suitors, learns the value of humility, hard work, and thinking of others, when she is married off to a poor musician.

And finally, The Princess and the Music-Maker, a Mayan story from Guatemala, in which the Princess Maix runs away from her greedy father, and the profitable marriage he hopes to arrange for her, choosing to live with her love, Tepe the chirimía-player, instead.

All in all, I enjoyed the tales in A Treasury of Princesses, as well as the full-page illustrations of Ruth Sanderson - whose fairytale work in titles like The Enchanted Wood and Papa Gatto is likewise appealing - although I wish there were more than one per story. I also wished that some of the tales featured princesses who were more active, rather than being rescued (as is the case in both the Russian and Mayan examples), but leaving that aside, I would recommend this collection to all young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those with a taste for princess tales.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well-told stories; only one nice full-page illustration by Sanderson at the beginning of each story; I would have liked to have seen more.

[Marquise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It needed more variety and to be more representative of each continent, and it also should've had more illustrations instead of only one per tale, which don't always picture the most iconic scene from said tale anyway. But, in general, it's a nice posy of princess fairy tales from outside the classic Western ones.

[Jenelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad for a collection of stories from around the world. Legends like these can sometimes be pretty weird, and cultural differences can make it difficult for younger children, but Climo's interpretations seem to temper the oddities into more likable stories. I also liked the intros to each story, comparing other stories and explaining certain themes.

The biggest problem, though, is that with a lot of the convoluted details of the myths still retained, the one picture for 6-10 pages of story is a terrible tease. The stories are hardly straight-forward-- more winding and even random at times-- so pictures to me, should be an essential part of the book. In order to conserve space, I can see a sort of illuminated text approach like Trina Schart Hyman's St. George and the Dragon, or like Jan Brett, showing multiple tiny scenes in the borders.
Sanderson's work in A Treasury of Princesses, is as extraordinary as usual, just entirely too infrequent.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Moon Maidens (4 stars)

Gulnara (3.5 stars) - That dad deserved far more punishment for what he did to his wife!

Prince Ivan and the Frog Princess (3 stars) - No picture of the frog as the princess. Why?

Two Brides for Five Heads (2.5 stars)

King Thrushbeard (3 stars)

The Princess and the Music-Maker (2 stars) - The least meaningful.

Psyche (3 stars)


I liked her commentary about fairytales and different tropes and themes they display in various versions before each tale. Sanderson's illustrations were fine. Nothing splendid here and very sparingly used.

[Cheyanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A children's book from my own childhood that I remembered fondly, I randomly came across it in the library and was excited to read it for the nostalgic feeling. I got much more than that, as this book is a collection of fairytales from around the world told as accurately as possible. These Chinese, Arabian, Russian, Xhosa, German, Mayan and Greek princesses are strong, brave, clever, resourceful, stubborn, gentle, kind, humble, proud... as varied as real women. Enough of the perfect, beautiful, helpless princesses of modern Western culture. We need to tell stories like these.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection with nice introduction to each tale, and very nice paintings throughout. I liked the ones where the princess was strong, but where the prince was also clever - Ivan realized the value of his princess when she was a frog, and was willing to go searching, and Maix's young man didn't run and hide after she was captured.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of mostly-lesser-known fairy tales. Only a few I'd heard retellings of before, most were new... here's the list: Moon Maidens, Gulnara, Prince Ivan and the Frog Princess, Two Brides for Five Heads, King Thrushbeard, Princess and the Music-Maker, Psyche. My only complaint is that there was only one illustration per story.

[Kathryn]

at library

[Renee Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of princess tales from around the world. Gorgeous illustrations by Ruth Sanderson. Source notes. Written by Shirley Climo, of world folklore reknown.

[Kyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, short renditions of princess stories from around the world and various points in time.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! The author definitely put good scholarship into this work for kids!

[Sarah Morgan Sandquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really lovely collection of stories with age appropriate elements. Skillfully told, they represented a wide range of cultures and featured informative inteoductions.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I enjoyed most of these tales, but after reading Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls I was disappointed by the lack of strength a few of the princesses exhibited. Of course, this is not an anthology of strong girls, it is a treasury of princesses, but still... I would have preferred a stronger German heroine than the silly, spoiled princess from "King Thrushbeard". That said, I enjoyed the tales and appreciated the ones I hadn't heard before, and the fact that this is a truly worldwide collection.

[Rosie Gearhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-traditional princess tales. We loved it. I saw them rereading this often! Ages 5+