Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Collected Folk Tales
Alan Garner · 2011
82/100
👍 Worth It
Alan Garner is one of Britain's finest prose stylists in the folk and fantasy tradition, and this 48-tale collection showcases exactly what makes his retellings distinctive — spare, precise language that respects the oral origins of the material without sentimentalizing it. Eighteen previously unpublished stories make this a real contribution to the genre, not just a retread. Parents should know some stories carry genuine folk-horror darkness, so this suits older children and adults more than young readers.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Folk-horror darkness and supernatural elements; parental awareness advised for younger readers. We still scored it 82; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety80
Substance / usefulness82
Craft & writing88
Originality84
Evidence & accuracy85
Hype vs delivers80
Age-fit78
👁 Human-eye gut-check85
Penny’s verdict82
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