A Book of Wizards is one in a series of "A Book of ..."s all compiled by Ruth Manning-Sanders. We've also read, for example, A Book of Dragons, and there exist such titles as A Book of Mermaids, A Book of Witches, and A Book of Ghosts and Goblins. I don't know if she compiled the stories, collected the stories herself, or worked off of translations. The end result is a tidy and expansive collection of tales from across Europe, Asia, and Africa, all flowing with a consistent style and all centering around the intriguing figure of the magician. As an adult, I appreciate reflecting on all of these tales, comparing one to the other, especially considering the differences in culture, and considering what makes these tales about a wizard figure so compelling. The same was true for a A Book of Dragons: why do we consistently have these tales about dragons? You begin to wonder, what do dragons--or in this case, wizards--mean? The kids liked these tales, but they don't form an over-arching narrative. Sometimes the wizards were wicked and sometimes they were good. This was similarly true of the book on dragons, and I wonder if it might not be better to try a book where the figure is not so much of a trickster figure but is more consistently seen as good or bad to see if they would fall into the stories more easily.
Plot and Characters:
As I'm writing this in a little bit of retrospect, I can't quite remember any of the story lines particularly. Quite a few tales had farmers performing decent and kind deeds to what they presumed was a ragged traveler, only to realize much later that they were wizards, and benefiting richly afterwards. One especially intriguing tale had a jealous woman being told by a magician that he would double in wealth whatever she cut from the time the sun went down to the time it rose again. The woman spends the entire night cutting her curtains and all of their fine pieces of clothing, but of course is too greedy and still is cutting away at all of her rich possessions when the sun finally rises and the spell is broken, leaving her having destroyed everything in her house.
Future Recommendations:
I will definitely read more "A Book of"s to the kids this winter.
