-Altogether, this encyclopedia represents a major new step forward for folklore studies. It clearly belongs in every collection aiming to give serious treatment to world cultures. —College & Research Libraries ^BSelected Reference Works, 2006^R

-An outstanding feature of the encyclopedia is that it can claim to be truly representative of world folklore. More often than not, reference works that aim to cover world folklore in fact give the lions share of attention to the cultures of the West, but Clements does not give us a lineup of the usual suspects....The encyclopedia is exceptionally well designed. Well-chosen illustrations and maps and plenty of white space on each page make reading a pleasure. Most important for a reference work, the reference apparatus is comprehensive, detailed, and accurate. This is a very usable encyclopediasomething that is not always true of large reference works....In short, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife is a triumph. This is a work to browse in for hours; even a veteran folklorist will discover much that is surprising and new about world folklore in these pages. It is practical to use, a joy to peruse, and a work that all folklorists can be proud of. —JFR Journal of Folklore Research

-Any attempt to gather together folklores and customs from around the world is, to say the least, an extraordinarily ambitious project. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife tackles the challenge admirably. —Reference Reviews