TWO CHILDREN'S BOOKS, FAIRIES and MONSTERS by John Malam

PUBLISHER: QED Publishing 1/2009
GENRE: Fiction/Children's Fantasy
READ FREE: link
MY GRADE: A+

SYNOPSIS: Learn about the legends and mysteries that surround mythical creatures with these enthralling guides. Hunt down the most fearsome dragons, explore the fairy world, follow the history of giants and discover the most famous monsters in the world. Prepare to enter a realm of amazing artwork, incredible tales and legendary encounters.












MY THOUGHTS: I love this. It's a British publication. Every one of the 32 pages is filled with full-color illustrations and text. It's about fairies, goblins, dwarfs, pixies, and elves. Where they come from and all that good stuff, and most are shape-shifters, didn't you know? This is done pretty much in the same style as the 1976 book Gnomes by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen. I like this image and my favorite image is below and is of a hobgoblin causing mischief at night.

PUBLISHER: QED Publishing, 9/2009
GENRE: Fiction/Children's Fantasy
READ FREE: link
MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Learn about the legends and mysteries that surround mythical creatures with these enthralling guides. Hunt down the most fearsome dragons, explore the fairy world, follow the history of giants and discover the most famous monsters in the world. Prepare to enter a realm of amazing artwork, incredible tales and legendary encounters.












MY THOUGHTS: This 32 page book is part of the same 'Mythologies' series as 'Fairies'. What's talked about are the kraken, cerberus, harpy, hydra, great serpent, griffin, flying head, and vampires, among others, and include what I assume are well known stories about some of those creatures.

I like the 'monsters with wings' aka 'monsters of the sky' chapter best. I dislike the illustration of the Harpy because it looks very modern, unlike all the rest, which have a very old feel and look to me. There are quite a lot of stories packed into this one. Perhaps the freakiest chapter is 'humanoid monsters' and I'd be lying if I said this Minotaur didn't creep me out, or the flying head. My favorite image is from The Great Serpent and the Flood story, below.