Review of Old Mother West Wind Tales

[Helen Akoth]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Old Mother West Wind Tales" by Muz Murray.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Old Mother West Wind Tales is a children's book written and illustrated by Muz Murray. It contains sixteen interconnected tales and is based on an old American classic originally written by Thornton W. Burgess more than a century ago. In this rewritten version, the author aims to match the language of modern children, as the language used then may be difficult for most of them to understand. Some concepts that were not easily understandable and unclear were also clarified and simplified in this rewrite.

The stories are set in hypothetical worlds called the Grassy Green Meadow and Windily Wood. Here, we meet various animals, such as badgers, beavers, foxes, frogs, otters, quails, owls, trouts, rabbits, skunks, and weasels. There are also inanimate characters like the wind and the sun. They participate in various activities like races and celebrations, among others. The stories bring us closer to the animal kingdom and nature.

I immensely enjoyed this book. I grew up listening to etiological stories, but the author's unique, engaging writing style in this collection was something to behold. Muz Murray not only came up with captivating stories but also informative ones. The stories are consistent with nature and the real-life natural behaviors of the animals featured. Some stories are etiological (explaining why some animals are the way they are), while others have moral lessons at the end. The stories also flow smoothly, as there is a sense of continuity between the chapters. Some of the themes in this book are revenge, payback, mischief, and karma. The rhythmic lines were also great, with alliteration and rhymes as the predominant lyrical styles, which brought out the musicality. This will make it a great read-out-aloud book.

I also loved the wonderful illustrations incorporated in this book. Factual nature notes about the animals featured were also provided, adding to the informativeness of this read. All of these added to my enjoyment of this book.

I read an ePub version of this book for the purpose of this review. I, however, observed that these stories would be better when read from a physical copy, as the end line rhymes may be difficult to spot in an e-book format due to misalignment of the lines. This is not really a negative point but a suggestion that may be helpful to the publisher and potential readers. Regardless, reading it loud still brings out the aspect.

Overall, there was nothing in this book that I disliked. I only found a few errors, which were not that distracting and could not influence my final rating. Therefore, I am happy to give it four out of four stars. It is excellent, well written, and has several moral and nature lessons for children.

This book targets children between the ages of 3 to 12 years, and I highly recommend it to those of them who love nature and animal stories. This book will make a great read-out-loud collection for teachers, parents, and grandparents to their children. The nature notes provided will be informative and bring children closer to animals and nature. And finally, this book contains some minced oaths. Most of them are playful and may not necessarily affect the target readers (children). I enjoyed this collection and am looking forward to reading more works by the author.

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Old Mother West Wind Tales
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[Prosper2000]

A childrens based on an old American classic originally written by Thornton W. Burgess more than a century ago. Doesn't sound like my thing.