Tales From Sliver Lands

Title: Tales From Silver Lands

Author: Charles J. Finger

Pages: 225

Genre: Children's Fiction, Newbery Award, Short Stories, Fairy Tales

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is a collection of 19 tales that the author collected and compiled from Central and South America.  Many of the fairy tales are similar to fairy tales that we're familiar with, while others are more unique.

My Review: I was a little nervous for this book, but it exceeded my expectations (or rather, my judging the book by it's cover).  First off, I couldn't find the book at any of the libraries close to my house, so I requested it through an interlibrary loan and it ended up coming from BYU's library (an book from the original 1924 printing, no less).  Secondly, the book does not have very many reviews on goodreads (at least for being a Newbery Award winner) and most of the reviews were fairly critical.  I didn't love the book, but it was an easy read, most of the stories were only 10-15 pages long and they weren't all that bad.

Ella Enchanted

Title: Ella Enchanted

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Pages: 232

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale

Grade: B+

Synopsis: This book is a new look at one of the world's oldest fairy tales. Young Ella is happy as a lark until her father ends up marrying a mean step-mother with two daughters after her mother's death.

My Review: First off, I didn't realize that this book was taken from one of the most popular fairy tales until after I had finished the book. The Newbery Honor book was a fun, quick read in just a couple of hours.