My Book of Enchanting Fairy Tales

The illustrations in this book are absolutely lovely. They are in whimsical style and should appeal to artists as well as children. Just check out the two page spread for The White Cat which depicts a theater staffed and attended entirely by cats. Every page in this book is covered with color and beautiful illustrations. The background color in an illustration covers the page, and the illustration covers part of the page with text on the rest. This is the kind of book that a child can "read" by looking at the picture, and then read the writing in as they learn to read. Traditional stories are retold in large print and simple language. This would be a good book for a child who is first learning to read, because they can move from understanding the pictures to understanding the simple writing. The stories retold here are well known favorites: Little Red Riding Hood Mother Goose Hop O' My Thumb Goldilocks and the Three Bears The Three Little Pigs Rumpelstiltskin Jack and the Beanstalk The Frog Princess The Princess and the Pea The White Cat Little Ida's Flowers Ole Luckoie. Or the Dustman Thumbelina The Top and the Ball The Darning Needle Blockhead Hans Sleeping Beauty Puss in Boots Tom Thumb Hansel and Gretel Beauty and the Beast Babes in the Woods This is a perfect book for very young children who are just learning to read. Unfortunately the older printings are likely to be fragile (I have a 1977 edition and it would not hold up to rough treatment). If you are buying a used edition for a child try to get the most recent printing available. The illustrations here also hold up artistically. Some are simple, but some are fantastic. Collectors of art for children are likely to enjoy this.