A thoroughly engrossing collection of tales from around the world. While I had encountered one or two before, most of them were new to me, or at least significantly different to those I had come across in the past. The stories were quite diverse, ranging from a tale which you would be happy to share with your children, to another which read like the outline to a Scandicrime drama! It was fun seeing familiar elements of fairytales in different settings. I am now keen to investigate the source material. Thank you to Netgalley for bringing this book my way!

*thank you to Netgalley, Pushkin Press and Cornelia Funke for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*


3 stars.

The Boy Who Drew Cats  🌟🌟🌟 :3
Kotura, Lord of the Winds 🌟🌟🌟🌟 :4
Through the Water Curtain 🌟🌟🌟:3
The Areca Tree 🌟🌟🌟🌟:4
The Maid of the Copper Mountain 🌟🌟🌟:3
The Tale of the Firebird  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟:5
Bluebeard 🌟🌟:2
The Six Swans 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟:5
Golden Foot 🌟🌟🌟:3
The Story of One Who Set Out to Study Fear 🌟🌟:2
The Frog Princess 🌟🌟🌟🌟:4
The One-Handed Murderer 🌟🌟🌟:3
The Girl Who Gave a Knight a Kiss Out of Necessity 🌟🌟🌟:3

This turned out to be a mixed bag for me. But I ended up quite liking it though I didn't love it. I did however enjoy reading Cornelia's thoughts about each story. That was a really nice touch. I found some of what she said to be quite interesting and at other times, not so much. I think that's why I enjoyed it more, because I am a fan of Cornelia's work. If this had been by an author I either didn't know or was so-so about I probably wouldn't have liked it as much so I guess that makes me a bit bias.

I do really love this cover and reckon it would look great as a hardcover book. While I didn't love this collection, it was still a good read.

My tween and teen daughters have enjoyed reading books by Cornelia Funke and adore fairy tales. She picks up all sorts of collections. We thought Funke's collection would be a good read to pass the time during a long family trip, but no one enjoyed any of these stories OR thought Funke provided any additional value in providing her commentary.

I realize many of these stories are not nearly as popular as your basic Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson, but they are familiar enough within our family -- Boy Who Drew Cats, Kotura, etc. -- and the telling of them in the book did not elevate these in anyway. Quite possibly it is because we were reading an e-ARC via NetGalley, but even without a fancy hardcover, there wasn't anything that made me want to buy and gift this collection.

A must have to add to your child's library! Beautiful and fun to read! I imagine the hard copy is even more beautiful. I loved all of the stories!

I liked this collection of tales and I was surprised to discover a few, even if I have already read a lot.
My favorite was "The tale of the Firebird" but I also loved "The Boy who Drew Cats", which I didn't know.

I also appreciated the comment of the author at the end of the story, which was always very interesting and pushed to the reflection.

In short, a good read! ^^

Cornelia Funke is an internationally renowned and best selling author of children's books. In the forward to this lovely collection of fairy tales from around the world she acknowledges their influence on her writings and the love she has had for such stories since her childhood. She also examines the nature of folk and fairy tales pointing out that they tend to be quite reactionary with their reinforcement of a patriarchal and hierarchical society. Everyone has their place and woe betide anyone who ignores the commands and orders of their elders and betters.

She also points out the differences that exist from tales emanating from the West and East. Here we have an anthology of 13 tales from around the world and each is followed by why Cornelia Funke has chosen it. This is a wonderful read for both old and young. One interesting bit of advice that Funke gives is that if you are ever visiting a new country or region try reading one of their fairy tales as they often make excellent travel guides and you will feel like a local. I certainly will try this on my next excursion abroad.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

My children and I spent a few nights reading stories from this book together. My ten year old daughter enjoyed some more than others, while my six year old son didn't really show interest in most of them. I enjoyed the majority of them.

Great collection of tales! I love all the different fairy tales in this book. I think every parent should have a copy for their kids.

I didn’t expect to like this, as I’ve always hated fairytales (yet I keep reading them because I hope to change that!) I was pleasantly surprised by this thoughtful compilation of stories I haven’t read before; my favorite was The One Handed Murderer!

Author Cornelia Funke brings readers a collection of fairy tales from around the world that far more in common with Grimm than Disney. Her introduction provides speculation on why the dark side of fables and fairy tales intrigue both young and old and insight into her own conflicted feelings about the genre. The tales recorded are quite diverse in setting and villains and after each, Funke includes brief commentary. Libraries with generous budgets may want to purchase this one for fans of her Mirrorworld and other darker, fantasy series such as those by Cassandra Clare.

Fairytales are some of the best stories to read regardless of your age.

I enjoyed the assortment of tales here. Some were different versions of familiar tales and some were brand new. Funke's commentary after each one added to book as well.

I definitely recommend!

Firstly, that is one beautiful cover - I wish the whole collection was fully illustrated and think it would have added an extra dimension to the stories.
The stories are from across Asia & Europe and are told in quite a simple & straightforward style that would probably suit younger readers. Each story is followed by a short section of commentary by Cornelia Funke which adds some depth and interest for older readers. Having said that, and I don't know if this is because was because it was a digital review copy, some of these sections were very brief as if they weren't complete or there wasn't much to say. It would have been nice to include some more detail and context for when/where they were from.
I particularly enjoyed The Boy Who Drew Cats, The Areca Tree and Through the Water Curtain.

Sometimes you just need to read a nice collection of fairy tales from around the world to help you escape and experience a little magic. This book features several fairy tales and stories literally from around the eastern hemisphere including Japan, Ukraine, Italy, France, Germany, and Vietnam. There isn’t a true theme for this collection, rather it seems to just be ones that the author really liked and wanted to include in a collection.

Something that I am not sure I liked or didn’t like was the toned-down effect or feeling that these retellings have. I enjoy some of the graphic and more “adult” feel that other retellings have, and anything related is lacking in this collection. Maybe I should be reminded that this is intended for children. Regardless, once I started reading this one and got used to the style, it was fine and I ended up enjoying it.

Another thing about this collection that I enjoyed was how the author/collector added a little section after each story that explained her thought process for each story and added in some additional details that may have been missed during the reading. At times, this is just her telling why she liked a story and others she provides a mini discussion or dissection of the story and its elements. I really liked this because it helped to break the stories up into their individual elements and let them stand as individual tales, but also gave me a space to think about what I had just read and process it. A large portion of these tales are not typical for an American audience and have some magical and fantastical elements. I found myself having the hardest time with the Asian stories; those were the place that I was really thankful for the author’s input.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this collection and getting back into reading fairy tales. I especially loved that this collection was so vast in the regions it represented and seemed to want to portray a wide view of tales from around the world. Each tale is unique; I had only heard Bluebeard before. Besides that one, they were all new for me to read and experience.

I loved this selection of lesser known fairytales. I also enjoyed that the author gave some commentary on them, including her own knowledge of the world's folk and fairytales.

Through the Water Curtain is an anthology of fairytales from around the world. I haven't had a chance to read them all yet but so far I think it's interesting.

Thank you for providing me with a review copy.

I considered myself pretty well versed in folk and fairly tales around the world before I came across Through the Water Curtain. There were in fact a number of stories I'd never despite some a number of themes within them feeling very familiar indeed, credit where it's due, Funke put together a strong collection here.

I enjoyed reading her insights and commentary at the end of each story despite not always agreeing with one or two points she was attempting to make.

As always with collections such as these, the stories have a rather dry and earthy flavour about them, so people picking it up looking for something with a Disney-esque tone should probably stay clear.

Liked this book a lot.

With thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the arc.

This is a charming anthology of fairy tales from around the world, from countries including Japan, Russia, Italy, and Ukraine - meaning the chance of your already having read them is low!

While obviously aimed at children, I found it interesting to hear some different tales to the standard English rote - with some personal favourites being 'The Story of One Who Set Out to Study Fear'. 'The One-Handed Murderer', and the alternative version of 'The Frog Prince'. I found this difficult to rate, as I enjoyed the tales but they are not aimed at my age group (and also I don't have children to read them to), but gave it four stars on the basis that I would have enjoyed them as a child.

I also enjoyed the commentary given by Cornelia Funke after each story, and appreciated that each tale was accredited to the country/retelling author

The cover is gorgeous, and I think this would make a lovely gift for any lover of fairy tales.

I've always loved fairy tales but as an American I'm used to the standard ones so this was a nice surprise to read and makes me eager to find even more. Through the Water Curtain is a collection of enchanted tales throughout the world from countries such as Russia, Japan, Siberia, and even Native American folklore. I love that this collection shares these stories but also preserves them as well. It's important that we keep these tales living as long as we can and this book does it beautifully and effortlessly.

We've had the hardback in the shop for a while, we sell it to just as many adults as children. It's beautifully written and eminently dip-in-to-able.

ARC Copy...I did like the selection of fairy-tales encompasses many cultures around the world with commentary/ author's opinion on each one.