Green and Yellow Fairy Books (Hesperus Press)

Andrew Lang's Fairy Books are a series of twelve books that were compiled and published between 1889 and 1910. The colors in order are Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Pink, Grey, Violet, Crimson, Brown, Orange, Olive, and Lilac. There are approximately 400-500 tales total, and they are gathered from all over the globe. Some you will recognize, and others you won't. Truthfully, you can find all but the Grey Fairy book on Amazon for free for the Kindle, and that's fine, but they lack the illustrations. Also, there's something about a nice hardcover; turning the pages; and smelling the paper while reading it. Hesperus Press has been slowly republishing these books at the rate of about two a year. I assume this is to make sure there is enough interest before printing all twelve books, but I know I am going to be sorely disappointed if they don't publish the other eight.

The Green Fairy Book contains 42 tales, if I counted correctly. The ones which you will immediately recognize are The Three Little Pigs and The Story of the Three Bears. However, these stories aren't always the way that you remember them. Another one, which was my favorite, was The Fisherman and His Wife. You might recognize this tale, and you might not, but it is about a poor fisherman who catches a flounder who claims to be a prince. He decides to release it but the wife berates him saying he should have asked for a reward in return. He does so the next day, and instead of being happy the wife gets greedy. She keeps demanding more and more, and eventually loses it all. Other interesting and lesser known stories include The Enchanted Snake. which is an Italian fairy tale, and The Riddle, which  is a German fairy tale that the Brothers Grimm compiled.

The Yellow Fairy Book contains 48 tales, if I counted correctly. This collection contains two very well known tales in Thumbelina and the Emperor's New Clothes, a personal favorite of mine. There is also my wife's and most girls favorite How to Tell a True Princess. Many might not recognize it by this title, but if I told you that it involved a princess, a bunch of mattresses, and a pea, you would immediately know the story. In fact, I know a few people who tried this very test when they were little. Unfortunately, none of them turned out to be princesses. Within this book, there are also Polish tales like The Glass Mountain and French tales like The Wizard King. Not all the tales are happy. Though, one should never expect them to be. But each are enchanting and expose you and your children to different cultures and different takes on familiar tales.

If you are a fan of fairy tales, this series is for you. The books are wonderfully constructed, and the vibrant dust jackets stand out on your shelf and make for a beautiful collection. I hope they will continue to publish these wonderful books until my collection is complete. Judging by the previous release schedule, there should (emphasis on should) be another two put out at the end of this year or beginning of next year, and they would be the Pink and Grey books. Until then, remember that if you like tangible books and want good books like this to continue to be available in print, then you have to support smaller publishers like Hesperus Press.

These books were provided to me for free by Hesperus Press in exchange for honest reviews. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!

The Blue Fairy Book (Hesperus Press)

With the introduction of Common Core, lack of God in public schools, and growing safety concerns, the homeschooling movement is growing stronger in the United States. I for one am thrilled as children are once again being taught Latin and Greek. It is also great because publishers are starting to re-print some classic works. However, they will only continue to print these works if we support them and buy their titles. Hesperus Press was generous enough to send me two works, The Blue Fairy Book and The Red Fairy Book to review.

If you're like me, you probably grew up on fairy tales. We live in a Disney society of Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc. But have you ever taken the time to read the actual fairy tales? The Brothers Grimm? Hans Christian Andersen? There are some similarities between Disney and Grimm, but the differences is where the beauty is. In this reprint of a classic, Andrew Lang gathered fairy tales from around the world, edited, and compiled them into different fairy books.

For those who have not read these fairy tale books before, I will reference "Beauty and the Beast." Mr. Lang draws this tale from Mme de Villenvue, and it is quite different than the Disney version. For starters, Beast wasn't a bratty and spoiled prince, but cursed by an evil fairy. Beauty (not called Belle in this version) is not an only child, but has many brothers and sisters. She is the son of a merchant, who had Job-like misfortunes and lost everything. Ultimately Beauty and the Beast end up together (like Disney), but the story read better than Disney could have imagined.

For those familiar with Andrew Lang's work, you already know about the quality of the writing and probably want to know about the quality of the physical book. In a word, the book is superb. It's hardcover, with a vibrant blue dust jacket. The pages are of a nice thickness, and it contains original artwork from the original works. I've seen other editions of this work from other publishers, and I would pick the Hesperus Press one every time. It is built to stand the test of time and wear and will look beautiful on your shelf! I just hope they continue to print the rest of the series, but they can only do that if we buy the two that are already out. So if you are looking for a wonderful, quality book on fairy tales to read to your children, grab both The Blue Fairy Book and The Red Fairy Book from Hesperus Press.

I received this book for free from Hesperus Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes!