Penguin Books Australia

Discover the amazing adventures of heroes and monsters.

The Children's Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Monsters is the latest in the series that includes the successful Children's Book of Art and Children's Book of Music . From early Aboriginal dreamtime to the legends of the Aztecs, this colourful and vibrant introduction to myths will help your child to discover storytelling from different cultures...

This is Linda Tucker 's firsthand account of her journey into the mysteries of the most sacred animal on the African continent: the legendary White Lion. This book reveals the knowledge and ceremonies of Old Africa and the overwhelming love that has driven her every action to save these magnificent beasts, against formidable odds. . .

One of the crowning achievements of medieval artistic genius, The Song of Roland tells of the battle of Roncesvals in 778 . At the center of this heroic epic is Roland, the supreme embodiment of the chivalric ideal who leads his men into combat and fights valiantly to the death. But Roland is just one of the superbly defined figures in this panoramic drama. The poem's vivid portrayals of Ganelon's...

In these wonderfully illustrated tales, renowned storyteller Howard Pyle carries us back to the enchanting world of King Arthur and his Round Table.  The book chronicles the adventures of Arthur as he draws the sword Excalibur from the anvil, proving his right to the throne, and as he courts and wins the heart of Guinevere.

'Burning ice, biting flame; that is how life begins'

The extraordinary Scandinavian myth cycle is one of the most enduring, exciting, dramatic and compelling of the world's great stories.

A series of intertwined tales which together form a strange and fantastical world teeming with gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, battles and couplings, the Norse myths are as exciting to read as they are of...

'The Judges of the Dead showed Sisyphus a huge block of stone and ordered him to roll it up the brow of a hill and topple it down the further slope. He has never yet succeeded in doing so . . .'

'As soon as the Cyclops had fallen into a drunken sleep, the wine having been untempered with water, Odysseus and his remaining companions heated the stake in the embers of the fire, then drove it into the single eye and twisted it about . . . '

Evil is never dormant – it gestates.
- from the Foreword by Guillermo del Toro

The Raupo Book of Maori Mythology is a new, updated and revised version of A.W. Reed's classic Treasury of Maori Folklore (1963). These vivid and entertaining stories have been revised by Ross Calman, and can now be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.

The Maori have a rich and colourful tradition of myth and legend. Some of their most important and popular tales are retold in this classic book. The stories range from the creation of the world and the coming of life, death and knowledge, to supernatural tales of love, terror and adventure. Read about the great god Tane, about Maui who tamed the sun, about the woman on the moon, about monsters...

'Now chap off my head, my hinnie, my heart, Now chap off my head, my ain true love'

In these three tales from the first major translation into English of The Arabian Nights in more than 100 years, the endless inventiveness of the vizier's daughter Shahrazad is revealed, as she spins stories of greed, lust, riches and wonder to delay her death at the hands of a brutal king.

Everyone is always trying to persuade us of something: politicians, advertising, the media, and most definitely our families. With all the wisdom of the ages, from Aristotle and Stalin to Yoda and Monty Python, Winning Arguments will show you how to win more than your fair share of arguments, as well as:

'This readable anthology is a good introduction to a civilization that fascinates like few others . . . in this book there are animals who talk, princesses who are locked up at the top of towers, wicked stepmothers and many other themes . . . An enjoyable book by a skilled author' 
Financial Times

What were the twelve labours of Herakles?
Why did Zeus turn himself into a shower of gold?
What was the name of the guard-dog of the Underworld?
Which two-faced Roman god gave his name to the month January?
What is the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx?

The kingdoms of Connacht and Ulster are preparing to do battle with each other. Medb, the sly and envious Queen of Connacht, is on a mission to steal the fabled Brown Bull of Cooley from the men of Ulster. The Ulstermen, crippled by an ancient curse, face defeat from her armies, until a hero emerges in the shape of the warrior Cú Chulainn: a man of superhuman strength and supernatural powers...

'She stood by the standing-beam, summoned her strength:
her eyes blazed fire, she snorted venom, Brynhild, Budli's daughter'