The Blue Fairy Book

by The Blue Fairy Book

The Fairy Books, or "Coloured" Fairy Books is a collection of fairy tales divided into twelve books, each associated with a different colour. Collected together by Andrew Land they are sourced from a number of different countries and were translated by Lang's wife and other translators who also retold many of the tales. The collection has been incalculably important and, although he did not source the stories himself direct from the oral tradition he can make claim to the first English translation of many.

Genres: Fiction

425 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 12, 2021

Reviews

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful mixture of fairy tales, both lovely and enchanting, and kind of ugly and weird. Many old favorites ... of course Cinderella, and I enjoyed this version because Cinderella forgave the stepsisters, and this version barely mentioned the stepmother! The first story (and many others) I had never heard before, and though I loved the beginning, it then went on an on and on ... I didn't care for the version of Little Red Riding Hood, but it was a lovely version of Beauty and the Beast. All in all a good mixture, and a good book to read one or two stories a day rather than trying to read the entire book as one.

[Rae V · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a neat collection! I’ve read a fair amount of classic fairytales, but this collection has far more IVE never read than have.

For starters, even the stories I am familiar with, these were all variations with different details or completely different plots than I’ve read before. (That’s a good thing!) So, even in Beauty & the Beast, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, etc., had elements I knew, but some went in other directions.

For the stories I didn’t know, I think it’s hilarious that everything always happens to the youngest child. Most beautiful? Youngest. Bravest? Youngest. Underdog hero? Youngest. I just think that’s so funny. Poor older and middle kids! No glory for you.

Overall, I do appreciate the collection of stories, however trying to read it at any speed other than a story or two (or three) a day is extremely hard, because every story is the same, but different. Hero (youngest child!) gets introduced, they lay eyes on someone and “passionately fall in love with him/her the moment they take in their beauty”, some sort of three part repetitive quest needs to happen, almost gets married, evil befalls, happily ever after (usually).

A fun collection to be sure, and a couple gems in there I wouldn’t have known otherwise! 3⭐️ from me and not 4, mostly because getting through it was quite tedious with switching worlds and plots every few pages. And, definitely some stories I think you can pass over without missing much. (I’m looking at you, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. And, The History of Whittington -_-)