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Tanglewood Tales
384 pages
A cozy, fireside retelling of ancient myths softened into enchanting, old-fashioned fairy tales.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like sitting in a sunlit nineteenth-century parlor, listening to a slightly formal but deeply imaginative storyteller. The pace is leisurely, allowing the lush, ornate prose to transform the harsh and bloody realities of Greek mythology into gentle, wondrous adventures. The mood is steeped in a nostalgic, golden-hour enchantment, where heroes are purely noble, monsters are vanquished with a theatrical flourish rather than visceral gore, and the natural world brims with hidden magic. It is a deeply comforting, storybook approach to antiquity's most enduring legends. This classic will thoroughly delight readers who appreciate vintage children's literature, earnest narration, and the descriptive beauty of classic American romanticism applied to timeless heroic quests.
- Mood
- enchanted
- nostalgic
- cozy
- mythic
- Tone
- earnest
- whimsical
- gentle
- didactic
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- heroism and bravery · the magic of antiquity · triumph of good over evil · wonder of the natural world
- The writing
- Elaborate, slightly archaic, and richly descriptive, softening ancient tragedies into enchanting fairy tales.
- The arc
- The journey moves from a sense of daunting ancient mystery to triumphant, comforting resolutions.
- Who it's for
- Readers who cherish vintage children's literature and prefer their classical myths delivered with a gentle, old-fashioned charm.
Content notes
- mild peril
- sanitized mythological violence
- abduction themes
About the book
Tanglewood Tales uses the Greek classics as its source. Nathaniel Hawthorne has taken the most striking and exciting ones and adapted them for children. From the original stories he has selected episodes that illustrate conceptions held by the original authors. Titles include: "The Minotaur," "The Pygmies," "The Dragon's Teeth," "Circe's Palace," "The Pomegranate Seeds" and "The Golden Fleece."
Description from Open Library.
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