What do you think?
Rate this book
World Full of...
An Ocean Full of Stories: 50 Folk Tales and Legends from Around the World
Sit back, get comfortable and dive into this illustrated collection of folk stories from every corner of the globe, all inspired by water ways big and small.
From the bubbling source of a river and the gentle pitter patter of rain to the powerful crashing waves of a storm and the murky depths of the oceans, this is a rich resource of folk tales old and new.
Featuring stories of mermaids; ocean gods; magical fish and majestic dragons, there is something for everyone in this collection of tales inspired by watery worlds.
Expertly retold by the award-winning Angela McAllister, each story is brought to life with rich and detailed illustrations by Sally Agar that will capture imaginations and transport readers to water ways across the world. For story lovers young and old this is the perfect gift for all the family and ocean lovers everywhere.
Stories
Colapesce (Italy)
The Cat and the Dog (Korea)
The Land That Went to Sea (Fiji)
Thor’s Fishing Trip (Norway)
Dragon Lake (Romania)
The Selkie and the Otter King (Scotland)
The Fish-Peri (Turkey)
The Siren (France)
Tambanokano (Phillippines)
Why the Crocodile Has a Wide Mouth (North America)
The World Full of… series is a collection of beautiful hardback story treasuries. Discover folktales from all around the world with these stunning gift books, the perfect addition to any child’s library.
Also available from the A Year Full of Stories, A World Full of Animal Stories, A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories, A World Full of Dickens Stories, A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals, A Bedtime Full of Stories, A World Full of Spooky Stories and A World Full of Winter Stories.
From the bubbling source of a river and the gentle pitter patter of rain to the powerful crashing waves of a storm and the murky depths of the oceans, this is a rich resource of folk tales old and new.
Featuring stories of mermaids; ocean gods; magical fish and majestic dragons, there is something for everyone in this collection of tales inspired by watery worlds.
Expertly retold by the award-winning Angela McAllister, each story is brought to life with rich and detailed illustrations by Sally Agar that will capture imaginations and transport readers to water ways across the world. For story lovers young and old this is the perfect gift for all the family and ocean lovers everywhere.
Stories
Colapesce (Italy)
The Cat and the Dog (Korea)
The Land That Went to Sea (Fiji)
Thor’s Fishing Trip (Norway)
Dragon Lake (Romania)
The Selkie and the Otter King (Scotland)
The Fish-Peri (Turkey)
The Siren (France)
Tambanokano (Phillippines)
Why the Crocodile Has a Wide Mouth (North America)
The World Full of… series is a collection of beautiful hardback story treasuries. Discover folktales from all around the world with these stunning gift books, the perfect addition to any child’s library.
Also available from the A Year Full of Stories, A World Full of Animal Stories, A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories, A World Full of Dickens Stories, A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals, A Bedtime Full of Stories, A World Full of Spooky Stories and A World Full of Winter Stories.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published May 20, 2025
5 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Angela McAllister
127 books51 followersAngela McAllister is an award- winning author of over eighty books for children, including picture books, junior fiction, non-fiction and novels. Her work has been adapted for the stage and is widely used in schools. It has been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in the south of England.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2025
In a Nutshell: A beautiful illustrated collection of folk tales and legends from around the world, with every story being connected to a water body. Amazing stories, great diversity, excellent illustrations. Angela McAllister delivers again! Much recommended to little story lovers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have been a fan of Angela McAllister’s folktale collections ever since I read ‘A Bedtime Full of Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World (Volume 7)’ in 2021. Her books always feature appealing magical tales, legends and lore from across the world. And when I say ‘across’, I mean ‘across’ in every sense of the world. Unlike many story collections that claim to have global stories but end up with a majority of the stories being from USA and some parts of Europe, McAllister’s collections span every continent, and even contains stories from indigenous tribes. I have come to see her children’s compilations books as a reliable source of genuine folktales from across cultures.
Her latest offering, ‘An Ocean Full of Stories’, meets in every way the high expectations I had. The book contains fifty stories taken from multiple continents and cultures. Every story is connected to a water body, but there is no feeling of déjà vu. The stories reminded me of the folktale collections I used to read in my childhood, with every tale offering fun as well as a worthy lesson.
The fifty stories are divided across six theme-based sections. I appreciate how the tagline next to the title mentions the continent as well as the country/culture the story comes from. With the places being as disparate as Papua New Guinea, Isle of Mann, Philippines, Norway, Chile and Ghana, the book offers an amazing variety. There were two stories from India as well, but to my surprise, both were new to me. The sources of all the stories are presented in an appendix at the end.
The stories are written in an easy-to-understand narrative style. The official target age is 5 to 8 years, but because of some of the words and themes, this book would better suit kids aged 7+.
Every story is accompanies by some gorgeous full-colour illustrations. The graphics are always in sync with the tone of the story as well as the culture it is taken from.
Folktales are anyway among my favourite kind of children’s stories as they make me so nostalgic for my childhood storybooks. But with the strong narrative and cultural diversity of this book, it definitely stands a cut above. Most of the tales in this book worked excellently for me, so much so that I struggled to pick the ones I loved most. So the below listing is better read as a ‘best of the best’ kind of record.
All in all, this book fared exactly the way I expected it to, and probably even went a little beyond. While I have loved all of this author’s works, I think this one might just be my favourite so far.
Much recommended. If you want a truly diverse and entertaining storybook for your kids, you cannot go wrong with Angela McAllister’s folktale compilations. This book would be great at homes and classrooms, and would also make a wonderful gift.
4.5 stars, delighted to round up.
My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group for providing the DRC of “An Ocean Full of Stories” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have been a fan of Angela McAllister’s folktale collections ever since I read ‘A Bedtime Full of Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends from Around the World (Volume 7)’ in 2021. Her books always feature appealing magical tales, legends and lore from across the world. And when I say ‘across’, I mean ‘across’ in every sense of the world. Unlike many story collections that claim to have global stories but end up with a majority of the stories being from USA and some parts of Europe, McAllister’s collections span every continent, and even contains stories from indigenous tribes. I have come to see her children’s compilations books as a reliable source of genuine folktales from across cultures.
Her latest offering, ‘An Ocean Full of Stories’, meets in every way the high expectations I had. The book contains fifty stories taken from multiple continents and cultures. Every story is connected to a water body, but there is no feeling of déjà vu. The stories reminded me of the folktale collections I used to read in my childhood, with every tale offering fun as well as a worthy lesson.
The fifty stories are divided across six theme-based sections. I appreciate how the tagline next to the title mentions the continent as well as the country/culture the story comes from. With the places being as disparate as Papua New Guinea, Isle of Mann, Philippines, Norway, Chile and Ghana, the book offers an amazing variety. There were two stories from India as well, but to my surprise, both were new to me. The sources of all the stories are presented in an appendix at the end.
The stories are written in an easy-to-understand narrative style. The official target age is 5 to 8 years, but because of some of the words and themes, this book would better suit kids aged 7+.
Every story is accompanies by some gorgeous full-colour illustrations. The graphics are always in sync with the tone of the story as well as the culture it is taken from.
Folktales are anyway among my favourite kind of children’s stories as they make me so nostalgic for my childhood storybooks. But with the strong narrative and cultural diversity of this book, it definitely stands a cut above. Most of the tales in this book worked excellently for me, so much so that I struggled to pick the ones I loved most. So the below listing is better read as a ‘best of the best’ kind of record.
My favourites from each section:
I. Fishy Tales:
🐋 Colapesce (Italy)
🐠 Honorary mention: Hippo’s Promise (A Bushman story from Africa.)
II. Crossing the Water:
🐋 The Land That Went To Sea (Fiji)
III. Pools, Lakes, and Rivers: The best section for me, with so many wonderful stories that I loved almost all of them. My top favourite of the twelve stories won by a whisker of a margin.
🐋 The Talking Fish (China)
🐠 Honorary mentions: Sina and the Eel (Samoa), and Why River Waters Are Never Still (North America)
IV. Tricks and Trials:
🐋 Why the Sea is Salty (Japan) – a story I have read before but I still love it.
🐠 Honorary mention: Pu-Nia and the King of the Sharks (Hawaii)
V. Ocean Gods and Water Spirits:
🐋 The Fish-Peri (Turkey)
VI. Beside the Sea, Beneath the Waves:
🐋 Māui and the Great Fish (New Zealand)
🐠 Honorary mentions: The Siren (France), and The Merman (Iceland)
All in all, this book fared exactly the way I expected it to, and probably even went a little beyond. While I have loved all of this author’s works, I think this one might just be my favourite so far.
Much recommended. If you want a truly diverse and entertaining storybook for your kids, you cannot go wrong with Angela McAllister’s folktale compilations. This book would be great at homes and classrooms, and would also make a wonderful gift.
4.5 stars, delighted to round up.
My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group for providing the DRC of “An Ocean Full of Stories” via Edelweiss+. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
July 21, 2025
It’s a stunning anthology of folk tales and legends inspired by the ocean!
This beautifully illustrated book is part of one of my kids favourite series that gather stories (tales, legends, myths) about different themes. This one in particular is the one to go if your children love ocean, seas, lakes and river inspired stories. With colourful and detailed illustrations by Sally Agar, and featuring 50 beautifully retold stories from all over the world, it includes legends, myths and folktales on the theme from countries such as Greece, Brazil, China, Chile and Turkey, amongst many others. It’s incredible to imagine the thorough research that had to be done to create this wonderful book.
My daughter has been loving to listen to one of these stories every night at bedtime. They’re calming and filled with magical elements/characters! You won’t regret getting this as a gift for your children’s friends or as a bedtime book for your own children.
This beautifully illustrated book is part of one of my kids favourite series that gather stories (tales, legends, myths) about different themes. This one in particular is the one to go if your children love ocean, seas, lakes and river inspired stories. With colourful and detailed illustrations by Sally Agar, and featuring 50 beautifully retold stories from all over the world, it includes legends, myths and folktales on the theme from countries such as Greece, Brazil, China, Chile and Turkey, amongst many others. It’s incredible to imagine the thorough research that had to be done to create this wonderful book.
My daughter has been loving to listen to one of these stories every night at bedtime. They’re calming and filled with magical elements/characters! You won’t regret getting this as a gift for your children’s friends or as a bedtime book for your own children.
June 14, 2025
Possibly not the best book of this series, this is still a wonderful selection of quickly-read stories from around the world – Isle of Man to Turtle Island to Ghana – and all the seas and rivers in between. There is one of the more really family-friendly Anansi stories, stuff about mermaids and dragons, senior fishermen and young boys deceiving the King of Sharks. You simply can't expect better variety of sources and stories, and the artworks always make these books look appealing. Just because I don't rate it the highest around doesn't mean I don't rate it – the work put into these, from the art to the simplified telling to the research involved is well worth acknowledging with a welcome purchase. And a strong four stars, in the finish.
July 21, 2025
We absolutely loved this book! It’s calm, thoughtful, and full of wonder — like taking a slow stroll along the beach with your imagination wide open. The story gently encourages kids to dream, listen, and tell their own tales. Perfect for winding down at the end of the day, with beautiful illustrations that pull you right in. A lovely little gem for story lovers big and small.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews