Long defined by film adaptations that have portrayed Aladdin as a simplistic rags-to-riches story for children, this work of dazzling imagination-and occasionally dark themes-now comes to vibrant new life. "In the capital of one of China's vast and wealthy kingdoms", begins Shahrazad, there lived Aladdin, a rebellious fifteen-year-old who falls prey to a double-crossing sorcerer and is ultimately saved by a princess.

One of the best-loved folktales of all time, Aladdin has been capturing the imagination of readers, illustrators and filmmakers since an eighteenth-century French publication first added the tale to The Arabian Nights. Here is an elegant, eminently readable rendition of Aladdin in what is destined to be a classic for decades to come.