Folk Tales of Rock and Stone

by Jenny Moon

This worldwide collection of tales features statues, adderstones, cliffs and quarrymen, magic stones, gems, fossils, and stones spinning across water. Most are rewritten folk tales, and some are about "real" people. Jenny Moon tells hundreds of tales a year to children and adults, and has studied why stories are so important to humans. An aim of this entertaining book is to share her fascination with rock and stone, whether in physical form, history, or folk wisdom and lore. Wound into the tales are interesting facts and observations about rock and stone that make this book more than just a book of stories.

Genres: Folklore

192 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2020

Reviews

[Verity Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weak connection

I expected this book to be a collection of folk tales involving stones, but many of the stories are only loosely and weakly connected to that subject. Maybe there aren't many folk tales about stones after all. At any rate, the stories aren't that interesting or compelling.

But the most frustrating aspect of this collection is that the the author seems more focused on herself than on the stories. Every story has copious notes that give the impression of "me me me." That turned this book from merely insipid to actively irritating.

I kept reading, hoping for at least one story that would be worth the effort, but none of them were.

[Edward Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book but a slight misrepresentation in that more than a few of the stories are “updated” or changed to the point that the original story is lost. I understand how folk tales, myths, and legends can change from time to time and with each retelling can be made into a wholly different thing, but purposely editing stories is not helpful.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m always looking for tales that are good for oral storytelling and was thrilled to find this collection. Every December we tell stories and have a week focused on stones, crystals, gems, etc and I am happy now to have this book to draw from now. I appreciated the author’s notes about where the stories came from and any modifications she has made to the telling (or writing). Such a great collection of stories and I look forward to any future story collections by Jenny Moon!

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of traditional folktales, and the idea of a group of tales that involve rocks and stones was appealing. However, this book was a disappointment. It's as if the author didn't have enough interesting tales to make a book. So she retold familiar tales -- like "Stone Soup" or "Salt" without adding much. Other tales are a stretch -- stories obviously altered considerably to add a stone or two. The stories are wide-ranging -- from science-based accounts of fossils to tales adapted from China, South America, Native America. The most interesting aspect is the author's accounts of where the story was found and how it was adapted. The relationship with rock and stone is often tenuous at best. Good concept, but could have been better executed.

[Lex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author clearly doesn't understand the concept of folk tales which change through word of mouth over long periods of time naturally. She just decided to take vague concepts from preexisting stories and change them however she wants. Some of the stories are ok but nothing too interesting and the illustrations are lacking, they don't add anything for me.

[Deserthomemaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s too much of the author in these stories, and since several of them were written by Ms. Moon, they aren’t really folk tales. Like all the collections I’ve ever read, some stories are better than others, and some of these have only the most tangential link to rock and stone.