Book review: 'Tales of the Arabian Nights: Stories of Adventure, Magic, Love, and Betrayal' is a treasury of ancient myths complete with epic illustrations

Shah Rayar, the king of the land beyond the Indus River, discovers his wife has been cheating on him in, "Tales of the Arabian Nights: Stories of Adventure, Magic, Love, and Betrayal." So he does what any normal sultan would do and has her killed. He then decides women should never be trusted. But he still yearns for companionship so, with what he decides is a terrific idea, decrees he will marry and kill a new wife each day. Problem solved.

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Then he marries Scheherazade. She has a plan to stop the deaths of Shah Rayar's future wives: she'll tell her new husband a new story every night. He'll be so enamored with hearing new tales that he'll have to keep her alive to hear the next one.

The plan works and Scheherazade spends years telling the king nightly stories. Those stories, tales from Syria, Egypt, and China are what make up the bulk of, "Tales of the Arabian Nights." This book abounds with stories from religions such as Muslim, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism. A few might sound familiar, such as Aladdin and his magic lamp. But most will be new to readers.

Each story is beautifully, masterfully illustrated. The illustrations are true works of art and several times I forgot to read because I was too busy studying the pictures. Seriously, I loved the pictures so much.

While most of the tales are clean, there were a few instances I felt uncomfortable and worried about what I had let my children read. In one part Shah Rayar and his brother are encouraged to "roll on the ground" with a mystical woman. One story has a profanity and many of the stories are about betrayal and violence. Yes, these stories are historical in nature and many, many of them let readers peek into ancient beliefs and ways of living that are entirely foreign to Western thought. But I wish all the infidelity didn't play such a prominent role in the book. I don't think my kids picked up on hardly any of the innuendos, but this is one book I won't be keeping because I don't want them to start asking me questions about the immoral plots behind many of the stories.

"Tales of the Arabian Nights: Stories of Adventure, Magic, Love, and Betrayal" has one swear word and loads of violence that isn't gory. Infidelity is subtly prominent throughout the book. Unless you're a parent who's okay with letting kids read whatever they want, this beautifully illustrated volume is one best read aloud in order to pre-edit the content.

Author Donna Jo Napoli is a grandmother with a graduate degree in linguistics. Illustrator Christina Balit has won several awards for her illustrations. Both have collaborated on other National Geographic mythological books.