The storytelling star - James Riordan

These unusual and alluring tales will familiarize children with the stars, constellations, sun and moon as well as introducing them to the storytelling traditions of the world's ancient cultures. The author, James Riordan, has spent many years researching the myths and legends of ancient cultures, and has discovered that - from China to South America - the Earth's stars and planets have inspired the earliest storytellers. The Aztec myth about 'The Girl Who Would Be the Sun' tells of a timid goddess who must compete with the vain God of Snails by jumping into a raging fire to become a guiding light for the people on Earth. There is also a sad story from the other side of the world, in which a Chinese weaver and her herdsman husband are forced to live in separate realms, meeting just once a year beside the Silvery Stream on the Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon - a significant date in the Chinese calendar. The evocative story of the birth of the stars is taken from ancient Inca folklore, while the Saami people (or Lapps) tell an exciting tale of 'The Battle of the Northern Lights'.