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A Book of Ghosts and Goblins
Twenty-one tales from various countries about ghosts, goblins, and other supernatural beings. Includes "The Headless Horseman," "The Kindly Ghost," and "The Leg of Gold."
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1968
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212 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Manning-Sanders
94 books39 followersRuth Manning-Sanders, youngest daughter of an English minister, describes her childhood as “extraordinarily happy. . . with kind and understanding parents and any amount of freedom.” She read omnivorously, and she and her two sisters wrote and acted their own plays. A Shakespeare scholar at Manchester University, she later married Cornish artist George Manning-Sanders. They began married life in a horse drawn caravan, and traveled to all parts of the British Isles.
Mrs. Manning-Sanders has collected folk and fairy stories from around the world and she published more than 90 books during her lifetime.
Mrs. Manning-Sanders has collected folk and fairy stories from around the world and she published more than 90 books during her lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 21, 2018
A Book of Ghosts & Goblins is a wonderful collection of tales about all sorts of creatures and spooks, both good and evil. The 21 stories are reminiscent of fairy tales, most having a moral lesson (be kind, help others, don't judge by appearances, etc).
I loved this collection of stories. Some are scary, some funny and others are just weird. All of them were enjoyable! I liked the fact that the stories weren't just all about ghosts, but added in goblins and other supernatural creatures.
This book is middle grade appropriate, but also enjoyable for adults. The stories are spooky and strange, but not too scary for kids (yet not so benign that adults won't enjoy them). The tales are all well-written and each averages about 5-6 pages. Illustrations are by Robin Jacques (an amazing UK artist who illustrated more than 100 children's books in his career). The artwork is awesome and so creative! The pictures really add depth to the stories. :) The front cover art is just wonderful!
Ruth Manning-Sanders wrote several collections of fairy tales, all illustrated by Robin Jacques. Topics range from Giants and Dwarfs to Mermaids and Dragons! I loved this collection of stories. I definitely want to read more of her books! Magical stories!
I loved this collection of stories. Some are scary, some funny and others are just weird. All of them were enjoyable! I liked the fact that the stories weren't just all about ghosts, but added in goblins and other supernatural creatures.
This book is middle grade appropriate, but also enjoyable for adults. The stories are spooky and strange, but not too scary for kids (yet not so benign that adults won't enjoy them). The tales are all well-written and each averages about 5-6 pages. Illustrations are by Robin Jacques (an amazing UK artist who illustrated more than 100 children's books in his career). The artwork is awesome and so creative! The pictures really add depth to the stories. :) The front cover art is just wonderful!
Ruth Manning-Sanders wrote several collections of fairy tales, all illustrated by Robin Jacques. Topics range from Giants and Dwarfs to Mermaids and Dragons! I loved this collection of stories. I definitely want to read more of her books! Magical stories!
November 4, 2024
Twenty-one chilling stories of ghosts and goblins who1977 4th printing, and there's a pencil mark on the fly-leaf showing a resale price of 10p. I paid a little more than that, sadly (via WOB). ;)
roam the world in hideous shapes
work charms both good and evil
seek revenge for nameless deeds
play tricks on humans just for fun.
Weird, eerie and magical, these creatures and phantoms will haunt your mind for a long time . . .
0 330 24077 3
U.K. 40p
Australia $1.15*
New Zealand $1.25
Canada $1.25
*Recommended Price
Due to life circumstances (Hi, I'm back, I hope!), I didn't get to read this before Hallowe'en this year, but it didn't matter - this was one of the best collections of short stories / folktales I've yet encountered. They were all at least mildly interesting and memorable if not quite unique, and I can't often say that about these sorts of collections. To my delight, there is the original version of The Skull (Tyrolean), which was the basis for The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale (which I loved because it felt "open-ended", but I see what others have said - when you know the rest of the story (the context of whose skull and why), it comes off as half-baked. Still beloved, but it was great fun to encounter the original version!).
Contents here are:
(Foreword)
A Box on the ear
The Goblins at the Bath House
Golden Hair
Bring Me a Light
The Cook and the House Goblin
The Skull
The Tailor in the Church
Pappa Greatnose
Hans and his Master
The Golden Ball
The Strange Adventure of Paddy O'Toole
Little Jip
The Headless Horseman
The Ring
Water Drops
The Maiden Suvarna
The Beauty and her Gallant
The Kindly Ghost
The Three Silver Balls
The Good Woman
The Leg of Gold
Just typing that list out showed me how much I could recall of each - they were all memorable (though I had to look up Water Drops again - the title fits loosely, but yes, it was the one I suspected with a straw-like hat made of nail trimmings...!)
And I saw at the back of this that Ruth Manning-Sanders also wrote the following:
A Book of Kings and Queens
A Book of Devils and Demons
A Book of Monsters
A Book of Wizards
A Book of Ogres and Trolls
A Book of Heroes and Heroines
A Book of Marvels and Magic
A Book of Dragons
A Book of Mermaids
A Book of Dwarfs
A Book of Princes and Princesses
A Book of Cats and Creatures
A Book of Giants
A Book of Witches
Book of Magical Beasts
A Book of Charms and Changelings
and other tantalizing titles like A Bundle of Ballads. If any of these are as good as this one, I'm going to have to put some effort into tracking these suckers down!
July 6, 2016
Fairy tales about the world, with country sources (but no more) and nice illustrations, retold for children.
What with the ghosts, this is less pure fairy tale and more -- well, ghost stories. Even the goblin ones are more to the haunting side. Some pure fairy tales, like "The Three Silver Balls" and "Papa Greatnose."
What with the ghosts, this is less pure fairy tale and more -- well, ghost stories. Even the goblin ones are more to the haunting side. Some pure fairy tales, like "The Three Silver Balls" and "Papa Greatnose."
October 19, 2023
A great collection of stories with some real chillers included! These are the perfect ghost stories for children, since they never get too scary, but have just the right amount of bite to them. The goblin stories are less scary, but are just as fun. My favorites include "Golden Hair", "The Skull", and "Bring Me a Light".
January 30, 2021
I loved these little stories. Just the right amount of spooky.
February 7, 2021
Not a bad wee collection. Not a fantastic retelling but a good source for stories from all over.
September 24, 2022
Not pictured here is the cover illustration attributed to Brian Froud (who many would know as the guy who designed all the goblins in the movie Labyrinth, and the characters in The Dark Crystal). This is a book I have owned since the mid-late 1980s so I was overjoyed to find it on offer from CalibreAudio. As someone who can't read text so well and who relies on Audiobooks, that's just the greatest thing.
For those unfamiliar with the anthologies of Ruth Manning-Sanders, she compiled collections of folk-lore and stories from various places around the world. A few of these stories I remembered in detail and others were lost to the mists of time, so it seemed like I was reading them fresh. As folk tales, they typically harped on a specific moral or theme.. in the case of ghosts and goblins this is mainly in the domain of bravery, keeping promises, and gratitude.
In several of the stories there were charms or magics that threatened to have dire consequences for those who do not hold to their part. There is tension created when we do not know the price to pay should we step out of line, and a lot of this was borne out in ghost stories where weird things would happen but you could not tell if the spirit was mischievous, mysterious, or malicious.
Much of this was fantasy about good things happening to kind people (or wicked and ungrateful people getting their comeuppance), which was heartwarming. I think the best story was probably one where a young man proves himself kind, and honest, and is betrayed by family members, only to win the day, ensure that their needs were seen to, but that he didn't have to see them ever again. A fine lesson in healthy boundaries and distancing ones self from abusers. The foreword of the book outlines where each tale comes from and this particular story is depressingly attributed to "Africa"... which is a big place, and I suppose this is a sign that for all of this woman's attempts to share stories from different cultures, she was still a White Brit, born in 1886. The illustrations in the book by Robin Jacque are sadly, all of one ethnicity for the entire book. I haven't been able to find any more specifics on the provenance of that tale.
It's definitely neat to have a look back in time and hear some weird and wonderful stories, but the fathers marrying off of girls left right and centre is a little depressing. The dumbest story is the one where the entire thing boils down to a misogynistic punchline about a "good woman" being one with no head because then she can't nag you.
Really cool to have access to text that I can't read for myself, and interesting, but not exactly classic literature.
For those unfamiliar with the anthologies of Ruth Manning-Sanders, she compiled collections of folk-lore and stories from various places around the world. A few of these stories I remembered in detail and others were lost to the mists of time, so it seemed like I was reading them fresh. As folk tales, they typically harped on a specific moral or theme.. in the case of ghosts and goblins this is mainly in the domain of bravery, keeping promises, and gratitude.
In several of the stories there were charms or magics that threatened to have dire consequences for those who do not hold to their part. There is tension created when we do not know the price to pay should we step out of line, and a lot of this was borne out in ghost stories where weird things would happen but you could not tell if the spirit was mischievous, mysterious, or malicious.
Much of this was fantasy about good things happening to kind people (or wicked and ungrateful people getting their comeuppance), which was heartwarming. I think the best story was probably one where a young man proves himself kind, and honest, and is betrayed by family members, only to win the day, ensure that their needs were seen to, but that he didn't have to see them ever again. A fine lesson in healthy boundaries and distancing ones self from abusers. The foreword of the book outlines where each tale comes from and this particular story is depressingly attributed to "Africa"... which is a big place, and I suppose this is a sign that for all of this woman's attempts to share stories from different cultures, she was still a White Brit, born in 1886. The illustrations in the book by Robin Jacque are sadly, all of one ethnicity for the entire book. I haven't been able to find any more specifics on the provenance of that tale.
It's definitely neat to have a look back in time and hear some weird and wonderful stories, but the fathers marrying off of girls left right and centre is a little depressing. The dumbest story is the one where the entire thing boils down to a misogynistic punchline about a "good woman" being one with no head because then she can't nag you.
Really cool to have access to text that I can't read for myself, and interesting, but not exactly classic literature.
Want to read
June 9, 2016
Foreword
It is the hour between dusk and cockcrow that ghosts come back to walk the earth. And why do they come? Do they want to scare us? No, not usually. It is just that they can't find rest. Some come back because they are troubled in conscience and seek some human aid to right the wrong they have done in their lifetime. Once this wrong is righted, they are eager enough to go to their rest, and trouble us no more...
It is the hour between dusk and cockcrow that ghosts come back to walk the earth. And why do they come? Do they want to scare us? No, not usually. It is just that they can't find rest. Some come back because they are troubled in conscience and seek some human aid to right the wrong they have done in their lifetime. Once this wrong is righted, they are eager enough to go to their rest, and trouble us no more...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews