The Bremen Town Musicians

I collect children's illustrated books and within that hobby I also have a collection of The Bremen Town Musicians. I chose to make a collection of this particular book because 1) my ancestors came from the area near Bremen about 150 years ago and 2) I love architecture and this story lends itself to some marvelous old German architectural illustrations. I have discovered, so far, 54 different versions of this story. I have 24 of them, including 5 written in German. This is one of my favorites. First, the story is better fleshed out than most. I can't read German so I have never read the original version but I strongly suspect this comes closer to it than most of the books. I do have to agree with with the School Journal Library reviewer that the red and blue discs used in place of eyes is a bit distracting - at first, but in the end Johnson's illustrations are among my favorite for this title also. I disagree with that reviewer that the language is too advanced. One thing I learned a long time ago is that you do not have to read every word, if you are reading to a little one, and sometimes you don't even have to read every page. Highly imaginative children (such as my 4 year old granddaughter!) are also very good in filling in the blanks, making up their own story to go with the illustrations. Among other favorites are the brand new one illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat and a 1980's book illustrated by Martin Ursell.