The Orchard Book of Love and Friendship

This book presents a dozen stories depicting the occasional pleasures and inevitable pains of being in love. They are culled from a worldwide range of cultures, thus presenting a vivid sense of the universality of the strife and perplexity created by the gentlest and most ferocious of emotions. Familiar tales like those of Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet are accompanied by rarer gems: a Madagascan creation epic resembling a benign version of the Pandora myth; a poignant little vignette from the Harlequin and Columbine traditions; an old English 'Clever Jack' story which touchingly insists on the necessity of loss and death. McCaughrean's retellings are, as always, radiant in their simple but varied language. The illustrations are appropriately vivid and moving, and fascinating notes on sources are an additional bonus. This book is highly recommended for all ages. Excellent for sharing aloud or reading alone.