My ten year old daughter loved this book. She read it cover-to-cover in an afternoon. She's enjoyed other similar books with collections of inspirational stories and this was just as good. There is a nice selection of different stories so there should be something for everyone.

Thank you so much to Arcturus and NetGalley for the earc to read and review.

I really enjoyed reading this, it’s filled with stories of great heroines from all over the world, of girls that have had to be brave and overcome obstacles in their lives and set out on an adventure.

From Fa Mulan to Hinemoa to Lykke to Heidi and so many more incredible stories this book is such a great read and I recommend it. You’ll have fun reading about each different short story, it would make a great book to read with a child. The stories are all so different and so exciting, and who doesn’t enjoy a fun adventure?

The book also comes with some incredible illustrations to show you who these great women are and enhance your vision as you read their stories. It’s such an enjoyable and fun book.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

Adventure Stories For Daring Girls is a book that has a collection of 15 stories about girls within a mixture of cultures. There are characters such as Han Mulan, Princess Kaguya, Heidi and even Odette, the Swan Maiden who are all interesting in their own right and can give inspiration to many children.

Due to it being an anthology, each story can be read in any order and due to their shortness, multiple can be read or just one can be read which will definitely help for any people who like shorter stories. The art by Khoa Le is beautiful and helps immerse you into the worlds of these characters.


Rating
4⭐

Would I read it again:
Yes, especially if I was perhaps babysitting or something as it a book I can share

Would I recommend it:
Yes, the book is catered to younger people but I would recommend it for all genders as all the characters in this book are interesting and can spark inspiration.

This book is filled with retellings and adaptations of traditional stories from around the world featuring adventurous female protagonists. It features famous children's stories made popular by books and movies and also stories that may not be so well known outside a particular country or culture. Each story is fairly short at less than 10 pages and featuring full colour illustrations.

A lovely gift for a young reader.

A beautiful book for families to read together. The stories are full of adventure and fearless women who will hopefully inspire the next generation. I would buy this as a present for families with young children

This book of short stories was beautifully illustrated and an easy yet, enjoyable read. it was wonderful to get lost in slightly altered versions of the well-known classics. Even more so for the fact that they were lead by likeable, strong female characters, easy for any young girl to aspire to. Brave boys move over!

The premise of this book is that there are folktales out there of inspiring stories of women who risked it all for something, whether it was love of family or love of life, or love of another.

Great, bring those stories on.

And it works, when they are folk stories, ones I haven't heard from such as a Maori one from New Zealand. And it sort of works with folk stories I am familiar with, where she has only changed minor things.

But when she takes well known stories, such as Alice in Wonderland, and the Wizard of Oz, and tries to make them into short stories, it just doesn't work, and is clumsy. And while it was an interesting take on the Little Mermaid, where she went on to be captain of the princes armada, it felt as though at that point that the author should have just written her own story, which she sort of did.

So, while I would recommend this book for the folk tales, I would skip over the more familiar stories. They don't work.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I was so excited when i got approved for this book from Netgalley! I love (fairy)tales and folklore stories. This book is everything I love. Nice stories, beautiful pictures and every stories have a perfect amount of pages. This book is perfect for young and older girls BUT I also recommend to read these to your lil boys. I really appreciated the fact that the stories come from all over the world. Some I just discovered and I’m 37! If you want to revisit old classics it’s a good time too; they are resume and you get to know what they are about. A lot of them are heartwarming, some give you good life morales and some are just fun to read. Perfect for bedtime stories this book will be in my family bookshelf for sure because I’m gonna buy it.

I'm always reading children's books because it is the only gift I'd like to give to children. (And yes, I adore the books too!) Adventure Stories for Daring Girls is a beautiful book, and I'm sure all children will enjoy it.
Reading about heroines from all over the world was fascinating! I think a story before sleep would be perfect because they are short, exciting and familiar at the same time. And I'm sure it'll be fun for adults as well. Oh, I'm in love with illustrations!

These collections of stories are wonderful. While some are familiar stories from our childhood, others are new from around the world. I love that they promote the power of girls! Girls can be daring, brave and adventurous and all girls deserve to read about this type of heroine and to see themselves represented in books!

Alongside other similar volumes, I would be very tempted to create a girl power display in the library!

This beautiful book is a cornucopia of 15 inspiring and thought-provoking stories from around the world. The striking thing is the range of situations the main characters are in but their unifying thread is determination. There are many noble morals and quotes in this book which are timeless and worthy of being shared and embraced.

Adventure Stories for Daring Girls by Samantha Newman is a collection of short stories of female heroines. Full of adventures, great for any age.

Following on the tails of Fairy Tales for Fearless Girls, this is another collection from the author, Samantha Newman. This includes fifteen reconceptualized tales for young children (ages 7 – 11) from all over the world with some dazzling illustrations by Khoa Le.

The stories included are:
Gerda and the Snow Queen – Adapted from The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
Hua Mulan, the Noble Warrior – Adapted from Ballad of Mulan by Guo Maoqian
Heidi’s New Adventures - Adapted from Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Adapted from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Tale of Athena’s Great Conquest A Traditional story from Ancient Greece
Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz - Adapted from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Hinemoa’s Great Swim A Traditional Māori Story from New Zealand
Chimidyue and the Butterfly A Traditional Ticuna Story from South America
The Fountain, the Oven, and the Goddess A Traditional Folk Tale from Romania
The Tale of Odette, the Swan Maiden - Adapted from Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Lykke, the Little Mermaid - Adapted from The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen
Guimara, the Giant Princess - Adapted from Tales of Giants from Brazil by Elsie Spicer Eells
The Maiden and the Falcon - Adapted from The Feather of Finist the Falcon by Alexander Afanasyev
Céline, Kitchen Queen - Adapted from Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault
Princess Kaguya’s Great Adventure Adapted from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter a tenth-century Japanese story

While these stories vary, the overall theme is destined to encourage young girls to become strong, self-determining young women, capable of knowing and understanding their own thoughts, and of determining their own future.

Inspiring stories along with gorgeous illustrations by Khoa Le, these stories will be read again and again by daring and brave young women.

Published: 31 Jul 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Arcturus Publishing and NetGalley

This is a nice compilation of stories with a heroine. I particularly enjoyed the folklore tales from South America and other places in the world that I had not heard of before. Each story has been abridged and simplified, so would make a good night time story or even an end of the day story to read at school to year 1 or 2 children. There are a few classic stories, like Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, that might encourage children to read the longer versions. However, reading them all in one go, there was unfortunately quite a lot of repetition of princess falls in love, not allowed to marry, overcomes obstacle, lives happily ever after. This does reflect quite a lot of traditional tales, but the order of the stories meant it felt like a lot of them one after the other. Maybe extending the definition of "adventure" or "daring girl" might have improved this. The author has changed quite a few of the stories to stress more modern values, so the endless weddings seem a bit old-fashioned. However, they are a good introduction to traditional stories and the illustrations are lovely.

My rating: 4.5/5

‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’ was like a breath of fresh air, and I wish a younger me could have read it growing up.

Samantha Newman’s ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’ is a lovely collection of children’s tales bringing together 15 stories from around the world: amongst others stories from Russia, Denmark, Greece and New Zealand appear in the book. Filled with so many gorgeous illustrations by Khoa Le, ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’ is one of those books I wished I had a physical copy. The illustrations have been definitely a bonus aspect of this wonderful collection of inspiring stories with adventurous heroines.

Perhaps one of the most important messages from ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’ appears already in the introduction. ‘Being brave doesn’t mean you never get afraid. It means that you can carry on ten when you are afraid!’, the reader learns and is invited to meet all the inspiring and courageous girls featuring the collection. But friendship and love are also highlighted in all of those tales.

I really loved how the book incorporated so many stories from around the world. Growing up in Poland, and then living in the UK as well as being a quite well-read person, I have known a majority of the stories included in ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’, but I still discovered a few new ones, like ‘Heidi’s New Adventures’ and ‘Chimidyue and the Butterfly’.

While the stories in the book are aimed at the younger audience, children aged 7-11, I do believe that anyone can find something new and important in ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’. The stories are quite short, considering the target audience, but I really loved the fact that each story was accompanied by the title from each it was adapted and the country of origin. Not only it highlighted the diversity of stories featured in ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Girls’, but it also allows a reader to explore the tale they really enjoyed in detail if they choose to.

While a diverse in origins and characters, I wish that ‘Adventure Stories for Daring Stories’ have been more inclusive of different relationships with tales in the book featuring mostly heteronormative relationship where the love story was presented. Unfortunately, classic children’s stories luck diversity in this aspect.

But overall, I have enjoyed Samantha Newman’s collection and I would recommend it to both children and adults alike. Everyone needs a little courage and adventure, especially in the current climate!

Thank you to Samantha Newman, Arcturus Publishing, and NetGalley for a free advanced copy of Adventure Stories for Daring Girls in exchange for an honest review. I always find myself seeking out more books in this vignette style, as I love reading about a couple of people or events each night. I quickly found myself finishing this all in one sitting!

I loved the premise of taking commonly heard stories or myths and altering them. Some popular stories include Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Mulan, and myths such as the story of Athena. I thought each story was clever and enticing. I found myself wanting more and more once I finished each story. My favorite story was Hinemoa's Great Swim, that showed young girls they can achieve anything they desire if they are willing to work for it and to simply believe in yourself.

The artwork in this collection was also absolutely breath-taking. Each image shared its own story and pushed the story even further to show just how young some of these girls were when accomplishing so many incredible feats.
One thing I really loved about this collection was the amount of diversity provided. There seemed to be a story for every little girl from every little background. With that being said, I will absolutely be recommending this to all young girls in my life for both the joy of reading and the knowledge that it can present on cultures.

These stories featuring classic female heroines is beautifully illustrated! The author's message of independence is an important one that young girls need to hear and I think this book does a great job of getting it across in an entertaining way.

SOME GOOD STORIES FOR GIRLS TO GROW UP WITH

Actual rating: 2.5 ⭐

There were some really great stories in this anthology about strong, resilient, resourceful and daring girls. They are stories that every young girl should grow up with. However, I did enjoy some stories more than others and even felt like some of them didn't belong in this anthology.

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Idols: I really enjoyed this idea of making stories of daring girls accessible to young girls, giving them idols and role models to look up to and aspire to become just like.

Folklore: I particularly liked the stories based on folklore, they were new to me and gave me even more inspiration for stories to tell my own daughters (once I have them, that is)

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Famous stories: Like I said, I definitely enjoyed the lesser known stories based on folklore the most. Some of the other stories actually felt very out of place - like Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz. Those stories are already written for children and didn't need to be cut down to this size.

The Little Mermaid: This story actually almost offended me. The writer took too great a creative liberty with this story and it turned me off instantly. You shouldn't have to bastardise the original story to make it fit into an anthology.

Let me start by saying how glad I am to see a book like this. When I was a little girl in the early 2000s, it seemed like, unless you read fairy tales, daring adventures were predominantly for the boys —and now here we have a beautifully illustrated storybook full of princesses who want far more than life in a palace, peasant girls who get to go on quests, and ordinary girls who stand up for themselves even when they're being shouted down. It's also wonderfully diverse! There's the tale of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz, and then there's the story of The Ballad of Mulan, a folk tale from the Amazon rainforest, the Maori legend of Hinemoa, and a version of The Feather of Finist the Falcon from Russia — amongst others.

The stories are very simplistic and abridged, but that's to be expected in a book for such a young audience — and will also provide a great jumping-off point for when they're old enough to read the true versions. I can imagine this being the sort of book that one would read to a child at bedtime, and I can also imagine them treasuring it as much as I adored my books on fairy tales.

Adults and children alike will be enchanted by the artwork! It's all very soft and beautiful, and I can only picture how nice it would be in person. I particularly loved the one of the Snow Queen taking Kai away on a sleigh pulled by bears and surrounded by snow bees, and the one of Elena giving a bath to all of the beasts.

A short collection of stories about girls and women from around the world - I think the mix of stories was nice, although maybe a bit repetitive - e.g. fairy tales/books most people know and have a hum about. The stories were also really, really abridged which in some cases made me wanting to read the actual full-length story instead, but maybe that is one of the purposes of this storybook - to be a sort of introduction to very young children. I would put the age range down to children around the ages 4-5 as the length of the stories look to be perfect as goodnight stories.

The illustrations by Khoa Le are absolutely beautiful!