Spellbound: Tales of Enchantment from Ancient Ireland

Former Irish Children’s Laureate Parkinson retells seven stories of Gaelic origin in engaging, lucid prose. Magic and dreamlike imagery intersect with practical lessons and warnings about the powers and dangers of human emotion. In “The Children of Lír,” the jealous wife of a widowed king transforms her husband’s children into swans; in “Land Under Wave,” a man’s kindness to an “ugly bedraggled old hag” results in her turning into a beautiful woman. Though they marry, their bond comes with one proviso: “Do not remind me three times about how terrible I looked when you first met me.” (Guess what he does.) The layers of meaning attached to the stories are echoed in Whelan’s vivid watercolor paintings, which feature quiltlike emerald fields, monsters with fangs and wings, and heroines and heroes dressed in patterned robes, capes, and gowns. Ages 7–9. (Sept.)