AN ILLUSTRATED COLLECTION OF FAIRY TALES FOR BRAVE CHILDREN - Scott Plumbe, illustrator

Yes, yes, yes!

I recently read and reviewed a classic children's book (Pinocchio) and I was reminded of growing up reading the very familiar fairy tales of the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson which had me thinking that we've done a disservice to some of the younger generations by Disnefying the classics and publishing so many new children's books every year. Of course every children's book author hopes theirs will become a future 'classic' - and some have, such as Jan Brett. But we really can't ignore what I consider to be the origins of children's stories.  And just as I am thinking that we've turned our collective backs on the classic fairy tales, we get this beautifully illustrated children's picture book.

Right off the bat, I love the title for this book.  Adding the prepositional phrase "for brave children" is really perfect. If you've read many of the fairy tales (specifically Grimm's), you know that they can often be dark and even brutal.   Be brave, indeed!

I also really liked that this book features a variety of fairy tale authors including the well-known Hans Christian Anderson ("The Wild Swans") and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm ("The Spirit in the Bottle," "The Three Golden Hairs," "Hansel & Gretel"), the lesser known name (but well known story) Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont ("Beauty and the Beast"), the very little-known Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev ("Vassilissa"), and the surprising Oscar Wilde ("The Selfish Giant").

Artist Scott Plumbe illustrates this book with really gorgeous color illustrations.  Plumbe's work reflects the classic style of Arthur Rackham (one of the greatest illustrators working around the turn of the 20th century) giving the reader that sense of classic work while maintaining a fresh, modern feel.

I liked everything about this book ... with one exception.  There isn't enough of it. 

There could easily be three times as many stories and still we'd only be touching the surface of classic fairy tales.  Let's hope that this is just the first volume in a series.

Looking for a good book? Be bold and add An Illustrated Collection of Fairy Tales for Brave Children, illustrated by Scott Plumbe, to your book shelf for your children, grandchildren, or even for yourself.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

* * * * * *

An Illustrated Collection of Fairy Tales for Brave Children

authors: Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev, Hans Christian Anderson, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Oscar Wilde

artist: Scott Plumbe

publisher: Floris Books

ISBN: 9781782506713

hardcover, 88 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more