Fairy Tales and Fables

The New Junior Classics: The Young Folks Shelf of Books #1

by Mabel Williams (Editor), Marcia Dalphin (Editor), William Allan Neilson (Introduction)

66 fairy tales from England, Ireland, Germany, Norway, France, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and India by 11 different authors, including some by the Grimm brothers; also 14 Aesop fables

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Childrens, Classics

358 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Aurora Dimitre]

I can't exactly rate/review this one because it's literally a bunch of fairy tales, but I will put down a few things about this and how it's kind of great -

first up, the illustrations! Each story had at least one, usually more, awesome illustrations sprinkled throughout. They were always super cool to look at, and they, along with the thick, old pages and Times New Roman font, made the book an awesome experience to read.

second, I can't go without mentioning how fun the Czech stories were. I liked all of them, and I recognized many of them, but the Czechoslovakian stories were my favorite. They were all just the absolute best and I really loved them.

third, I just think that this is such a cool book to own. I read it because I read every book I own, no matter what it is, but it's just so cool to look at, and feel, and smell - it's a great time.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful series of books from my childhood. It was on my parent's bookshelf. "Fairy Tales and Fables," was one of my favorites. I still have this volume in my home.

[Jami M.]

I bought the entire collection of Collier Junior Classics at a local used bookstore last weekend. I liked that the collection was published in the early 50’s and the beauty of the hardback covers and the illustrations literally called to me from the shelf. I’m also hoping my 13yo might want to read a few books, too.

I have always wanted to reread the fairytales I loved but only in the format similar to what I probably read when I was a kid in the 70’s. This first book in the collection is pretty much perfect. I think the thing that strikes me the most is that these stories, fairytales and poems all want kids to know that HEY: life is hard, people and animals are out to get you, and beware the things that seems unnatural.

I enjoyed this and am looking forward to Book 2. Great project that I am enjoying over the year.

[Sharon Specht · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series was one of the favorite of my childhood and I am trying to find a new set. There appears to be 2 different sets and I am not yet sure which is which. This is the one I had however.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had these books as a child. They are a lovley set of Junior Classics and I treasured them when I was young. I'm now a senior citizen and I repurchased the collection several years ago. Recently I decided to re read them. Volume 1 is a collection of fables and fairy tales from around the world. I had forgotten how violent they were and oh how repetitive! Still it was fun to go back and read them and enjoy the illustrations. I doubt that they would hold much interest to children today but it was a fun excusrsion for me.

[Brentman99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this series up from my local library quite some time ago as they intrigued me. As a child, my reading seemed to develop quite fast, so I skipped past a lot of children's classics books and went right to novels and non-fiction. Thus, I didn't read many of the old school traditional children's books. Now that I'm older, I want to become an author myself, so I'm trying to do some homework.

This series is a classic, but it is definitely dated. Thus, it will have limited reading value for modern children. Interestingly enough, I thought that there would be much more in the way of fables, but there was about 14 of them at the very end of the book. However, it was nice to see many classics, such as The Story of the Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The History of Tom Thumb, and many others. It was also interesting to see stories from other countries, such as Germany, Norway, France, England and others. The pictures were also a nice edition.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I kept it as a bathroom reader, which worked out well as many of the stories were fairly short. I look forward to the next volume. It is not recommended for young children to read as the language is somewhat old.

[Mary Mecham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of fairy tales and fables! I hadn’t heard of several (which is a major bonus- I read a LOT of fairy tales!), but they were scattered in with the classics that are more popular. Nice illustrations. Perfect for reading to kids at bedtime!!!

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories were more interesting than others, but I enjoyed reading the original fairytales. It was interesting to compare the originals to their Disney-fied versions. I also liked how the stories were grouped according to which country the stories or authors were from.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very broad and wonderful collection of classic fairy tales from all over the world. They are not dark, though they are sometimes a little wordy, but enjoyable through and through.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the vintage fairy tales. It was fun to see how they compared to modern day variations. Sometimes drastically.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairy Tales are brutal. And redundant.

[Alexia Cain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my grandmother’s book. I remember her reading stories to me when I was little, so Sylvie and I read about one story a night. My favorite is The Hobyahs, of course.

[J. Alfred · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Remember your fairy tales," says Lewis, and now I can! I feel like I had a severe fairy tale deficiency in my youth, one which Disney and Disney alone attempted to assuage. Fairy tales are probably good for one's soul-- they're certainly good for one's sense of magic.
This collection splits its stories up into the countries from which they were gathered, and I can say unequivocally that the French stories are the best (who knew?). Ol' Aesop is right behind, though, and German stories come after that. After that there's a big muddle, some good and some simply dumb. England-- I'm disappointed in you.

[Callie Collison-owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plus all the other "Young Folks" I like to think these cultivated my mind as a child :)

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and all of its 'children' books, really developed my imagination as a kid.

[Reva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fun to read!