The Silver Treasure: Myths and Legends of the World

Rating:
Summary: Heavy Duty Multicultural Stories
Review: McCaughrean's follow-up to her acclaimed The Golden Hoard, The Silver Treasure is a rather quirky compendium of religious stories, myths, and folk tales. Mixed-media illustrations by Willey are large enough to enjoy but rather dark in tone, reflecting the somewhat heavier tone of these tales. A community's prayers for release from invaders is answered by the removal of much of their wealth; a Native American outcast happily lies down on the ocean's floor to spend eternity; "God Moves Away." These are definitely not bright and cheerful tales. Nevertheless, the stories are fascinating, and many of them will be unfamiliar to most readers, stemming from Maori, Chaga (Kenya), Basque, Bolivian, and other traditions. Those that are familiar are strange bedfellows, to say the least: the Biblical "Tower of Babel" and America's local legend "Rip Van Winkle" would rarely be classed in the same league, let alone printed in the same book. Relatively short and more serious than magical in tone, McCaughrean has done a good job of selecting from a wide variety of traditions to help create a new, multicultural version of The Fairy Books. It will be interesting to see which metal she next chooses to meld together such a diverse mix.