Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Review: Little Tales by Raymond Pyke

About the Book

Little Tales by Raymond Pyke
Independently Published on January 8, 2019

Amazon Description

A collection of short stories which will whisk you away to a world of pure imagination. There are tales of magic and fantasy; stories involving animals and nature; cracking adventure yarns; and unusual fables about fairies and giants. Although written from the viewpoint of a young girl, the stories will appeal to readers of any age group or gender. Actual names are avoided within the stories so that the reader can better identify with the main characters.

My Thoughts

This middle grade book felt like a treasury of short stories to teach morals to small children.  The tales were easy to follow and quite whimsical.  As a teacher, I see the importance of repetition and story on the development of the individual.  This collection expertly provides both of these things!  I have already made plans to tell some of these stories to my future children.

I am excited that Pyke included stories from a variety of cultures.  There are stories for each child to relate to.  This is made especially wonderful by his choice not to use any specific names.  I love that this allows each child to insert himself/herself into the story.  I would have loved to see more stories with male protagonists, however.

 My largest complaint about it is that several words were used that the targeted age group would not understand.  Unfortunately, many of these words are important to understand what is happening in the tale.  This encourages children to expand their vocabulary, but takes away from the flow and comprehension of the story.  I think that this is one case where Pyke should have considered what is more important-vocabulary expansion or moral growth.

Overall, I am incredibly excited about this piece! I was fortunate enough to be able to listen to the audiobook and the reader definitely brought the stories to life.  I look forward to reading much more from Pyke in the future!

My Rating


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