Enchanted Isles - Lithographed Children's Treasury of Literature
This is an incredible Treasury of Children's Literature from 1954. The book is titled, "Enchanted Isles" and is a part of Merrill Books' 'Readtext Series' (1 #3 in a series of 4). The book was selected and edited by Eleanor M. Johnson and Leland B. Jacobs. The illustrations are amazing and some stories included are: "Dr. Doolittle and the Pushmi-Pullyu" by Hugh Lofting, "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling, "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen and many, many more.
My 6 yr old son really loved these for story time. Nothing scary in this book, but there were a few stories that seemed very dated, and some which were even culturally insensitive in their portrayal of native Americans.
There were points where I chose to censor or revise while reading to him. But most of the stories were actually well intentioned and even progressive for the 50s or whenever these were written. Multiple stories had strong female leads, many had compassion for animals as a central theme.
Otherwise I thought the inclusion of poems and art made the book kind of charming.
Found this in a bunch of books while i was helping a friend prepare for an estate sale for her grandmother. Had to grab it. (Plus a lot of other books).
I remember using this book in school. lots of great memories.