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1926

Editor's Note: Many of the books are out of print. The header information will be as complete as I can make it.

Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowman Chrisman (Dutton, $13.59, fifth-grade level). ISBN: 0525392440.

The Medalist Although this book is 75 year old, it reads well because the stories are interesting and have a certain dynamism. Fans of dragons and demons in particular and Chinese folklore in general will be greatly pleased.

The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery by Padraic Collum (MacMillan, seventh-grade level). Out of print

Honor Book The author uses a gathering of seafaring explorers at the home of  Prince Henry the Navigator to frame a series of stories, most of them fanciful legends, about the Atlantic Ocean and its fabled lands. The first 100 pages are difficult to wade through because Collum shares legends from a variety of ancient cultures who imagined more than they knew about the western ocean. These stories are so fantastic and in some ways so lacking in modern interest that it makes for slow reading. The later chapters, beginning with the exploits of the Vikings and Norseman, begin to incorporate the rudiments of facts and thus become easier to absorb. It's fascinating to think that the Norsemen established colonies along the North American coastline all the way down to Maine. This is a book for the small cadre of legend lovers. I can't imagine a modern child finding much to hold their attention.

Copyright David Ross 2003