While journeying to a yearly festival, an anonymous traveler tells six spellbinding tales in Steve Michael Reedy’s last installment of his anthology, Monkey Mind Tales.

Tra-La-La Day is the most important day of the year in this fairytale world. Kindness and joy become unfettered as merry-making feasts are held to celebrate the nighttime visit from the loving Iceling Queen, a sort of spiritual Santa Claus. Instead of giving gifts, she removes “distressing thoughts and feelings” that have burdened humankind during the year. All the stories are linked to characters who have gained life-affirming wisdom during the Tra-La-La Day season.

In one tale, when a town gathers on Tra-La-La Eve, Miss Pinberry, the priggish etiquette teacher, invites all the children on stage. She reads a list alleging it came from the Iceling Queen, who judged them as “good” or “bad.” Ill-mannered children are banned from the festival, and Miss Pinberry whisks them to her castle-like house where they must stay for the winter to learn about proper conduct and etiquette. The story takes an unexpected, delightful, and touching turn as the children end up teaching Miss Pinberry about unconditional love.

The other tales are equally imaginative, with immersive detail and deliciously complex characters. Additionally, Reedy is a champion of witty, rhyming musicality. Some of Miss Pinberry’s rules include: “Girls must always curtsy./ Boys must always bow./ Never chew your food up/ Like a farmer’s dairy cow.” Reedy’s narrative, a mix of prose and poetry, is paced to keep readers rapt. Meanwhile, Fee’s black and white illustrations add enchantment with their old-world feel.

Although the listed reading age is 7-9, these stories carry a sophisticated sensibility that adults would appreciate and offer laugh-out-loud lines. A graying, toothless monster discusses his faded reputation: “My name used to spread fear when it was spoken…Now, it’s just a name; it might as well be Bob.”

This treasure-of-a-book deserves wide distribution, including counselors’ recommended reading lists, school libraries, and bookstores everywhere.

Also available as an ebook.