Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Chinese Fairy Tales
This topic is about Chinese Fairy Tales
1159 views
SOLVED: Children's/YA > SOLVED. Oversized Eastern mythology collection, possibly a series. [s]

Comments Showing 1-19 of 19 (19 new)    post a comment »
dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Back in the mid 80s or early 90s I had a large hardcover collection of mythology. This book would have been maybe 11"x17" or whatever a common oversized book dimension is. I remember it having too much text for me to like it when I was little, but also having really elaborate illustrations.
I think there might have been a couple books of mythology but I can only remember the one I had was Asian stories - a story about the turtle that carries the world on its shell, another one about fans, and about the moon princess found in a bamboo forest.
The illustrations were really pretty and in color, and I think the cover, along with having a drawing on it, was gold or light green.


message 2: by MB (new)

MB Taylor | 22 comments Time-Life published "The Enchanted World" series about then.


message 3: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments the covers do not look familiar, but I'll see if Amazon or elsewhere has pictures of the inside illustrations. Thanks!


message 4: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments bump? Does anyone have other suggestions? Thanks!


message 5: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Bump?


message 6: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments bump?


message 7: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44817 comments Mod
Chinese Mythology? Pub date is 2001 although there could be an earlier edition not listed.

Japanese Mythology (World of Mythology? Again pub date is too late, same caveat as above.

Japanese mythology, pub. 1969. You can see inside images here:

The publisher, Hamlyn, seems to have a mythology series. You can see more of them here:



message 8: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Oh those look like good possibilities. I'll see if I can find photos of the illustrations.


message 9: by Cheryl (new)

Cheryl (cherylllr) Any luck?


message 10: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Thanks for the nudge, I'd forgotten Lobstergirl gave me those suggestions!

I want to say that the Hamlyn series is a really good possibility because the format is familiar and the illustrations look right, but I remember there being the actual stories rather than a non-fiction look at the mythological stories. The Hamlyn books seem to be analyzing the mythology rather than just telling the stories.

Should I mark this as "possibly solved" or leave it as "unsolved?"


message 11: by Lobstergirl, au gratin (new)

Lobstergirl | 44817 comments Mod
It's really up to you - I would only mark it "possibly solved" if your sense is very strong that you know it's the correct book or series. If you're less then 75% sure I would leave it as unsolved.


message 12: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Lobstergirl wrote: "It's really up to you - I would only mark it "possibly solved" if your sense is very strong that you know it's the correct book or series. If you're less then 75% sure I would leave it as unsolved."

Okay. Leaving it unsolved until I can get a copy of the Japanese or Chinese to confirm


message 13: by Anie_chan (last edited Dec 14, 2015 01:46AM) (new)

Anie_chan | 76 comments Tess, did you find the one you were looking for? I think it's not Japanese Mythology. I have the book and while it had the balance of stories and academical values, it doesn't have the stories that Tess had mentioned.

While the story of Taketori Monotagari/Kaguya Hime, a moon princess found in a bamboo by a bamboo cutter is a Japanese folktale, the World-bearing Turtle is more of a/an Hindu/Indian ones and the fan one might be related to 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West's Sun Wukong and Princess Iron Fan.

So I think you are looking for a general Eastern mythology book.


message 14: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Thanks for the direction, Anie_chan! I'll change the discussion title to try to get more hits. I have not found it, although I also haven't been looking very hard, either.


message 15: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Bump... Been thinking about these books again.


message 16: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments When in doubt, ask your mother.

They were a series of Giant Golden Books. We may have had the Russian one and the Chinese one. My mom doesn't think we had the Japanese collection.

Sadly, she doesn't have them any more. I'm still looking for them in Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, but here's a link on Amazon.




message 17: by Kris (new)

Kris | 54618 comments Mod
Moms know. That's great. Glad you found your book, Tess. Here's the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ link - Chinese Fairy Tales by Marie Ponsot.


message 18: by Tess (new) - added it

Tess | 439 comments Kris wrote: "Moms know. That's great. Glad you found your book, Tess. Here's the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ link - Chinese Fairy Tales by Marie Ponsot."

Thanks! Thats not the edition we had, so I wasn't sure if I should link to it.


message 19: by Kris (new)

Kris | 54618 comments Mod
That's okay. We usually use the "default" edition that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ returns in the header. This avoids duplication in the group's bookshelves.


back to top