Journeys through Dreamtime: Stories from the World's Religions

There are twenty-four tales in this collection organized under the headings of 'Gods and Heroes', 'Saints, Angels and Immortals', 'Saints, Angels and Immortals', 'Sacred Places, Sacred Ways', 'Natural Wonders', 'Sacred Days'. The major world faiths are represented, as are African, Aboriginal, Norse and Malaysian religions and mythologies. This results in a mixture which works well on the level of presenting the reader with a range of tales from many cultures and religions and would make it useful in a situation where such an anthology is required to support a multi-faith curriculum. On the other hand, despite very determined efforts to provide an organized presentation with section titles, a glossary and an index, the overall effect is that a great deal of religious and cultural richness has been squashed into too small a space. The stories are told in straightforward language, and are between one and four pages long. The essence of each story is well-caught in the striking illustrations which are disposed on the pages in a varied and lively way. Visually this is a very attractive book and a considerable amount of thought has gone into its presentation. Perhaps it is carping to suggest that the title appropriates an important aspect of one religion (Aboriginal Dreamtime) and imposes it on others?