Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know

This collection gathers stories that have traveled across oceans and centuries to reach children's ears. Edited by pioneering children's authors Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, it assembles tales from far-flung cultures, each one carrying the strange magic of old wisdom. The book opens with a poem that asks readers to remain curious, to keep their eyes open to wonder, and the stories that follow deliver exactly that promise. Here you'll find Youngling setting out on a journey with his brothers, and Kong Hia Chiang, who learns the secret language of birds. These aren't the sanitized tales of modern picture books. They carry the weight of folklore passed down through generations, where kindness is rewarded but rarely without cost, where cleverness matters as much as courage, and where the world operates on rules that only the pure of heart can understand. What makes this collection endure is its scope. It doesn't confine magic to one culture or one kind of story. Instead, it offers children a passport to a world where dragons speak, where the humble outwit the powerful, and where wonder isn't something outgrown but something held onto.