Reviews for The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales

The average rating for The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-31 00:00:00 Mark Caruso I'm currently in a big Frank Stockton phase and enjoying so much of what I read. If you are in the mood for fables, fairy tales, and a lighter sort of nineteenth century sci-fi, Stockton is your go-to guy. I had no idea this Philadelphian was so prolific or that he had to negotiate a serious disability (crippling vision loss) for much of his life. He was hugely popular in his day but people seem to mostly remember him only for the gimmicky short short "The Lady, or the Tiger?" But he wrote much else besides and there are really gorgeous illustrated editions of his work that came out in his lifetime. They are fun to collect and not all that expensive. I'm not so sure his novels have aged as well as his better short stories. I haven't read those yet, but I'm basing that educated guess on what I have read about them.It's no surprise that Maurice Sendak chose to illustrate two tales by Stockton and that one of them was the title story of this collection. "The Bee-Man of Orn" is pure Sendak before Sendak. It's a great little fairy tale and one that's fun to read aloud to younger folks too. Don't be surprised if a recovery of his work occurs in the near future and he lights up a movie screen near you. His work is rife for a cinematic swoop. Most good things get revisited sooner or later. Stockton is such a good thing.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-08-01 00:00:00 Charles Wheeler Delightful collection of fairytales which are both nostalgically familiar and yet completely new - there's a gentle amusing wit to most of these stories which makes me surprised they never went on to become popular classics.