Tuesday 10 November 2015

An absolutely stunning pair of classics reissued by Frances Lincoln Publishing. Check out "The Arabian Nights" and "Queen Guinevere"

We're travelling the world in search of fabulous stories today - and first we're off to Ancient Persia for a set of stories that contain tales that people are very familiar with (even if they never realised they were part of this story collection).

"1001 Arabian Nights" is the inspiration for a collection originally adapted by the late, great Robert Leeson.

"Who?" Well for a generation of folk (probably about my age) Robert Leeson is something of a writing god. He's the author whose book "Grange Hill Rules, OK?" was eventually turned into a rather well known TV series.

In this collection you will find fantastic versions of some of the best loved tales including Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Aladdin and some lesser known tales like The Ebony Horse and The Tale of the Hunchback, The Sleeper and the Waker).

Gloriously illustrated by Christina Balit, this is a luxurious collection of scintillating stories.

Moving back west a tad, the second book we took a look at in the range had us back on more familiar ground...

Once again gorgeously illustrated by Christina Balit, but written and adapted this time by Mary Hoffman, "Queen Guinevere and other stories from the Court of King Arthur" tackles some of the glorious stories of Arthurian legend, a subject very dear to our hearts as we can't get enough of reading about King Arthur and the knights of the round table.

This dramatic retelling, based on Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur", is retold from the perspective of 8 women who are key characters in Arthurian legend but are often overlooked in favour of the more familiar characters like Arthur, Uther, Merlin and Sir Lancelot.

Read the tale of Queen Guinevere, The Lady of the Lake, and the nefarious Morgana in this brilliant collection.

"The Classics - The Arabian Nights" and "The Classics - Queen Guinevere" are available now in Hardback from Frances Lincoln Publishing.

(Kindly supplied for review by Frances Lincoln Children's Books)