The Golden Princess and the Moon (Angelico Press)

Fairy tales are some of the most timeless and important stories of a culture. They get passed down from generation to generation, can impart wisdom/lessons, and can even find their way into other cultures. It's a big reason the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and others still survive to this day. Sleeping Beauty is one of the more well known fairy tales as both the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault re-told this story, which actually had its origins in the 14th Century. It has since been told and re-told in popular media, most notably by Walt Disney. Recently, Angelico Press released a re-telling of this story entitled The Golden Princess and the Moon.

The book begins with a young Prince Erik crying in the woods, An old woman, named Ninny Nanny, hears him and offers give him something to eat and a place to rest. He is wary at first because he has heard that she is a witch. However, he relents to her offer after she informs him that she knew his deceased mother. Prince Erik's mother believed in magic and the old world. However, his father, the king, tried to stamp out anything magical in his land. When he goes back to Ninny Nanny's cottage, he rests for a while and has a dream about a princess. Her name is Rosa. She is a mere child and a spoiled brat at that. Prince Erik was disgusted with her but Ninny Nanny warned him that he must allow children time to grow up and mature. The rest of the book then focuses on this three characters, their maturation, their struggles, and their identities. I want to tell you more, but I don't want to spoil the book either.

It is no secret that I am not a fiction fan. For that reason, if I request to review a fiction book, I must truly believe that the book is very special or has enormous potential. This book has both. The author, Anna Maria Mendell, has an evocative writing style that draws the reader in. Her imagery and character development give us fleshed out characters, which creates a richer story as opposed to a two-dimensional plot with a predictable ending. She also steeped this story in religious symbolism without beating the reader over the head with it. Her use of faeries and magic made this book have a classic feel, but with a fresh coat of paint. I look forward to what else this author has to offer in the future and hope she decides to tackle other fairy tales with the same depth and beauty as she did this one.

This book was provided to me for free by Angelico Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Glass Mountain and Over the Hills and Far Away (Candlewick Press)

The Glass Mountain is a collection of eight stories from the land of Poland that are retold by David Walser. The stories in this collection are as follows:

• The Fern Flower
• The Krakow Dragon
• The Frog Bride
• The Miller's Daughters
• The Trumpeter of Krakow
• The Glass Mountain
• Pan Twadrdowski
• The Warsaw Mermaid

The book is illustrated by Jan Pienkowski and is the fourth book on which he and David Walser collaborated. At the beginning of the book is a brief account of Jan's childhood in Poland. It is an interesting account, and in it he also shares with us about the Polish folk art of paper cutouts, which is what he used to illustrate this book. After this section, there is a one page pronunciation guide of some of the tougher to say Polish words. After this introductory material, we are treated to the stories, which I would describe as dark at best. The first story "The Fern Flower" talks about a little boy, who wants to pick a flower to become the richest man in the village. His greed consumes him, and he ultimately loses everyone he loves. "The Miller's Daughters" is a tale of three sisters. Two of them are only worried about shallow things, but the third wants to read. Their shallowness would have cost them their life, if not for their studious sister. In "The Warsaw Mermaid" two fishermen capture a mermaid, but her hypnotic song entices a third man to set her free. After setting her free, he follows after her into the river and neither of them are seen again. Overall, this is a dark fairy tale book, which I guess I should have expected seeing that the idea of a happy fairy tale is still a somewhat modern invention. The illustrations are beautiful, and enhance the stories exponentially. If you're looking for happy fairy tales, check out Disney. If you're looking for authentic fairy tales, this is the book for you!

Over the Hills and Far Away is a collection or treasury of 150 nursery rhymes from around the world. Including the geographic diversity of these familiar and unfamiliar nursery rhymes, what sets this book apart is the illustrations. Instead of having one illustrator, there are 77 world famous illustrators including Alan Lee, Eric Carle, Marcia Williams. This is a cute book with a lot of rhymes I recognized and a smattering of ones I didn't recognize. My son loves this book, and the sing-songy way the words flow. The illustrations also provide color and character for the visual learner. I confess that I didn't love all of the illustrations, but it was fascinating to flip through the book and see all the different illustration styles of the various artists. Overall, it was a clever book and one worth investing in if you have little ones in the house!

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

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!

Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales (Canterbury Classics)

When it comes to fairy tales, there are three big names that come to mind - the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Andrew Lang. Depending on what you are looking for and the age range of your child, you could read any or all of these and have enough tales to last you for days. Today, I will be reviewing the Canterbury Classics version of Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales. The book is a pretty edition in that it is hardcover, leather, gold-edged pages, and comes with a ribbon bookmark. The pages are a little thinner than I expected, so there is a little bleed through of text when reading. Also, there are sadly no illustrations, literally zero. This gives me the feel that the book is more geared toward teens or adults, and not younger children.

What leads more to the idea that this book is geared for an older audience is the introduction. In addition to basic information about his life, there are comparisons between the tales of the Brothers Grimm and those of Andersen. "Andersen's stories were also much more Christian in orientation that Grimms'." The introduction goes on to state that "Andersen also uses religion to give his most tragic stories a "happy ending." After these brief introduction, we dive into the fairy tales. The fairy tales themselves are arranged chronologically and start with a recently discovered one entitled "The Tallow Candle." This one was written sometime in the 1820s with the others being written from the mid 1830s to the early 1870s. Within these tales, there are a lot of stories I don't recognize but also a bunch of my favorites like "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling." There are also a bit depressing versions of stories you thought you new, like "The Little Mermaid." Way different than Disney spun it to be!

Overall, this is an impressive volume that's only negative is that it is lacking in illustrations. Aside from that, it is a worthy edition to the Canterbury Classics line of books. If you are looking for classics in an attractive format that will look good on your shelf and will hold the test of time, this is a great selection of books that include other tomes like Bulfinch's Mythology and The Arabian Nights.

This book was provided to me for free by Thunder Bay Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Quatro Publishing Group)

Disney, Hans Christian Anderson, Andrew Lang, and the Brothers Grimm. No matter what your preference, fairy tales are an essential part of any childhood. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to find these tales compiled in a nice hardcover or hardcover series. Hesperus Press is slowly releasing all of Andrew Lang's fairy books. Race Point Publishing has done their part by publishing The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales.

The book is a gorgeous hardcover that spans over 700 pages. It comes with a ribbon marker and a slipcase and all for $30 (or less depending where you buy). There are 201 fairy tales (not 200 because "The Three Sluggards" and the "Twelve Idle Servants" were split into two tales), like Cinderella and Little Red-Cap, and 10 children's legends, which while having a religious theme are a bit strange. One legend for example is about a mother with twelve sons, who sleep for 300 years and become the twelve apostles. There are also tons of illustrations, both color and black and white. My biggest gripe with the color illustrations is that they aren't placed in the context of the story they coincide with. For example, a color illustration of Rapunzel is wedged between pages 98 and 99 when the actual story runs from pages 44 through 46. The pages are also very thin, as in you can see text from the other page through the pages. This is a bit of a nuisance when reading, and means the pages can rip easily, so you'll want to read this book to your children and not the other way around.

The content is five stars. It is complete (hard to find) and has a plethora of illustrations. It is also written in language that the modern ear won't scratch their head over, i.e., not King James.  Lastly, there is a nice introduction that your kids might not find interesting, but those older souls, like myself, might be interested in reading about the Brothers Grimm. The presentation, primarily page transparency and image placement, leave something to be desired and make this more of an adult book than a kid's book, which is a bit of a shame. Overall, I would give this book four stars, but still recommend you buy it!

This book was provided to me for free by Quatro Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!