The World Treasury Of Children's Literature Volume 1-2

This book is by far the best children's book I've ever owned. My son received it as a gift at his birth. We spent many happy moments reading the stories and poetry in this book. He can still recite the favorites! He is now in college, but the book is timeless. It has everything from funny poetry to short stories. It has all the classics in just one place. We always found something to suit the mood! If your kids love to hear stories from you this is a great option. My daughter also enjoyed this book growing up. She delighted in the "Stupids Step Out" and "Mrs. Simpkins Bathtub." Curious George was another favorite. The list could go on and on. I will never part with this book.

There comes a time in nearly everyone's life when they look at fairy tales and consider themselves to be too old to read them. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a certain pleasure to be derived from such tales that take us back to the days when life was simple and so many things were still possible. As adults, we find it too easy to consider things impossible. So much so that we can convince ourselves not to do things simply because we have lost our sense of wonderment. If you talk to scientists, of which I have been one, they will say that to be successful, you must have an overpowering curiosity and a passion to learn how things work. In other words, never lose the child's sense of wonder and discovery and still believe in the fairy tale. As the late, great baseball player Roy Campanella used to say, "You have to be a man to play this game, but you also have to have a lot of little boy in you." I read fairy tales often, as refreshing interludes between writing and reading technical books in mathematics and computing. I have found the tales in this book to be very refreshing, having read my favorites many times over. The stories by Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers are my favorites. While the situations are of course fantasy, the points of the stories are very true, still applicable centuries after they were first put on paper. I once made myself very unpopular in responding to a business initiative by ending an e-mail with the acronym BTEHNC (But The Emperor Has No Clothes). After a day of angry responses, the proposal was recognized as the empty balloon that it was and it was quickly canceled and forgotten. So much of our cultural heritage appears in the folk tales that were orally passed down for generations before they were finally committed to paper. We owe it to all future generations, starting with our children, to make sure that these tales stay part of our cultural memory. These tales are all classics, worth reading whether you are physically or intellectually youthful.

This was my favorite book when I was little, and I have read the entire book many times. It collects some of the best short stories, nursery rhymes, and fables in children's literature into one fabulous book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves stories, but children especially will be pleased with the content and the excellent illustrations. This is a book that everyone should have in their collection. You won't regret it!

My husband and I got this book the day our daughter was born. We enjoyed watching her eyes light up at the great stories. When she began reading she would not put the book down unless she had to. I recomend these books to any parent or grandparent.