HIDDEN TALES FROM EASTERN EUROPE

Although no explanation is offered for the intriguing description of the contents as "hidden," this collection of seven Eastern European tales hasn't a clinker in the bunch. Traditional folktale elements—baffled kings and sweet-tempered maidens, shrewd husbands, bad dreams and pots of gold—appear here in unusual combinations. Standouts include the Slovakian fable "The Twelve Months," in which the months themselves, personified, come to the aid of a girl charged with impossible tasks; the Russian tale "The Chatterer," whose peasant hero figures out how to keep buried treasure secret despite his wife's big mouth; and the Romanian story "The Hundred Children," in which the father of an enormous clan outwits a gullible dragon and brings home a fortune. Hess (Hungry! Hungry! Hungry! ) provides a single-page framed illustration and several vignettes for each story. His paintings emphasize the curve of the mossy forest floors and valleys where the plots unfold; they appear to be taking place on tiny planets. Some of the darkness of Grimm can be found here, too, but Hess never loses his sense of humor; a disturbing scene showing a dying king is tempered by the unexpectedly outsized ears of the royal Dalmatian, asleep in front of the throne. Writing with economy and restraint, Barber (Tales from Grimm ) renders even miraculous moments simply, allowing the luster of these stories to shine forth. Ages 7-up. (Mar.)