The Golden Book of Fairy Tales by Golden Books

by Adrienne Segur

Originally published in 1958, this colorful reissue features 28 traditional stories and fairy tales from around the world, including "Puss In Boots, " "The Frog Princess" and more.

Genres: Fairy Tales, Childrens, Fantasy, Classics, Picture Books, Collections, Short Stories

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1958

Reviews

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my mom was a child in the 1950's, she was given this book as a birthday gift. It followed her throughout her young adult life and she would read it to my sisters and I when we were little. I loved that damn book. Loved the pictures, loved the stories.

Until the Cedar Fires of 2003 destroyed my parents house.

A few years later, I came across the book again at a book store. I paid WAY more than I should have (first edition 1958, but still!).
You can't put a price on nostalgia!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautifully detailed images of cats, princesses, and wildlife set in jeweled fairytale settings are in the this book. It's inspired many, many artists.

[Agastya Kulkarni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title :The Evil monkey
characters: monkey and elephant
There lived a notorious monkey named cheenu in the Champak forest. he destroyed the birds nest and threw away their egg. Rabbits were afraid of being scratched by him.Almost all the animals were afraid of the monkey and. wanted to get rid of him. There was a clever jackal in the same forest . He decided to teach a lesson to cheenu. He went to the monkey and said your body is very attractive. The golden hair further adds to beauty of your body still one thing is wrong with you . The monkey said with surprise what wrong with my body. The jackal replied your face is red which does not suit you body. If you do as I tell your face will shine like moon. The monkey again asked How can I get the swargfal the jackal replied to the monkey in elephant's forehead the monkey see a pass a elephant he hit hard stone to the elephant's forehead the swargfal has been slipted down on his trunk he hit the second stone blood oozed the second stone make elephant mad swargfal didn't come down on his truck .so moral of the story is : Evil has Evil End
Favourite part of the story is : the jackal made very one happy
Favourite Character: The jackal

[Matt Guendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually owned this book because my father's old company published it. This is a larger book with every fairy tale that you can think of in it. I personally read the fairy tail the Little Red Riding Hood in it. The illustrations in this book are great. They are all very realistic and detailed. In this story her grandmother makes this little girl, who is described as pretty as can be, a red hood. This led to everyone calling her little red riding hood. As the story goes on Little Red Riding Hood runs into a wolf, and they race to her grandmothers house. Little Red Riding Hood takes her time along the way, picking up flowers, while the wolf gets to the house as fast as he possibly can. When the wolf got to the house the grandmother let him in. He hadn't eaten in three days and ate her. Then he wrapped himself in her clothes. As little Red Riding hood gets to the house the wolf, trying to sound like grandma, tells her to come in. As he try's to eat her she realizes what has happened. He ended up eating her as she couldn't escape. Sad right?.. but the story doesn't end there. The woodsman runs in with his ax, cuts the wolf in half, and out pop grandma and little red riding hood. It was a clever ending to a story that took a couple twist and turns. I really recommend reading this book and keeping it in a classroom. It has every fairytale that you could imagine. Great book.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notes:
This book is quite large and contains more than a dozen stories, several new to us. Read a couple of them out loud to my kids (and the rest to myself). Their opinion was that the stories were okay but they much preferred other versions we've read. Illustrations are few and quite pretty.

Many of the tales are gory, disturbing and fear-filled -- heads get cut off as well as feet, people are killed, people eat the livers and flesh of humans (or so they think, but still). Some of the stories seem to drag on too long but most are a nice length. Overall, it was enjoyable but not a favorite here. We definitely prefer the newer translations that are sanitized but not Disney-ized.

[Ratrichibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a copy - an Indonesian version of this book when I was in elementary school. The illustrations were so beautiful, and the stories were the ones I kept dreaming about.
Years later - few months ago, I got the second-hand copy from my local second-hand bookstore and it brought me back to my younger days. And when I found this original (English) copy, this is truly the book I would want my future children and grandchildren to read and hopefully they will have the same beautiful memories like I did.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have the first edition from 1958 that was my mother's from when she was young. It was my absolute favorite book when I was a little girl and continues to be one of my all time favorites. These fairy tales from around the world are enchanting and the illustrations are just spectacular. There's even a "Princess April" in one of the stories, which of course, I found irresistible. I couldn't love this book more.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this books since I was very little, although in Russian translation. Apparently, I could not be parted from it and I guess this it is where my love for fairy tales and all the like came from.
If you love fairy tales, you should definitely read this book. It has a fantastic collection.

[Laurie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this oversized book (along with, to a lesser degree, The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies) absolutely mesmerized me as a kid. The prose was dark, especially for a Golden Book. But that was nothing compared to the lush, detailed, HAUNTING illustrations of mournful main characters surrounded by wide-eyed, expressionless birds and deer that straight up looked like they'd been taxidermied. (The squirrel and gnome on the cover are two of the only inquisitive and emotionally healthy-looking life forms in the entire collection.)


Thumbelina

My mom would always pause on the full-page pictures and ask my sister and me to look closer. What did we see? What did we imagine was happening just beyond the edge of the page? Why were the protagonists' eyes always so sad? Why did we think almost everyone was depicted in profile view? How many of the birds and flowers could we identify by name? What did the characters do once we turned the page or weren't looking straight at them?

It was deliciously creepy.


Urashima and the Turtle

As an adult, I think about my cheerful, generous, science-based mama and wonder at the read-aloud choices she made with us. What melancholy or morbidness led her to select picture books like this, or to read us all those Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock Presents short stories or those biographies of linguists like Adoniram Judson whose wives kept dying on the mission field and Mary Slessor, White Queen of the Cannibals? Or to sometimes let us stay up to watch The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and The Wizard of Oz even though Rod Serling's voice gave (gives) me nightmares and the flying monkeys scared the crap out of me every single time? And why did I beg for more?

[Maya Poedji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Untuk buku dongeng, buku ini cukup pelit ilustrasi. Tapi sekalinya ada ilustrasi itu bagus banget. Bener2 lukisan. Meskipun kadang lukisan-nya agak aneh. Mungkin karena dr cerita rakyat negara lain. Cerita dongeng-nya juga lumayan panjang2 dan yaah...namanya juga dongeng, agak2 ngga masuk akal hehehe

[Krystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up with this collection of tales and reading it with my children has been a delight!

[Jessica (thebluestocking) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-balanced collection of fairy tales with beautiful artwork. I enjoyed reading these aloud to my daughter.

[Nancy Lorenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Golden Book of Fairy Tales
by Adirenne Segur (illustrations), and Marie Ponsol (Translation)

I had this book when I was a child, and loved it. I had it for years until a moving box got lost, and it vanished, like an enchantment. I thought it would be forever lost, as it was out of print. I since discovered that it was republished, and back in print, so even as an adult, I bought a copy to keep for posterity.

What makes this fairy tale book stand out is its incredible illustrations by Adrienne Segur. The most beautiful of the illustrations are the black and white drawings with a rose tint. Drawings of "Donkeyskin," the Japanese story, "Urashima and the Turtle," "Beauty and the Beast," are exquisite, and enhance the tales magnificently. The color illustrations are notable as well, especially, the cover story, "The Seven Crow Princes," along with "The Wild Swans."

The story book is taller than the usual book, brining a larger than life experience to the bedtime story. The cover illustration is both on the book and its jacket cover, as usual for titles in that era. The text is set in two columns on the page, with a line of graphics to separate the columns ( flowers, animals, vines) This unusual layout makes reading easier in shorter lines of text in case children want to read themselves, or follow along. The flourish between column texts also offer embellishment for the mere fancy of it all.

The stories average about 5 pages with some at 4 and others at 9 in length, including the full page illustrations in the tale, making it a good bet for a mid-size bedtime story. I give this book five stars for its enchanting style and an old fashioned imaginative experience.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own an original edition and have delighted for 47 years in the exquisite paintings of princesses (all of whom are unique, fair and blonde save for a token brunette and redhead) as well as the extremely artful retelling of these old stories.
Often when I am sad I take this book down and leaf through it and reread some of my favorites... such as The Frog Princess.
My daughter loved this book as well.

How happy I was to find a new edition (not quite as wonderful as mine) but with all the same gorgeous artwork and whimsical wording of the tales!!! Yay!
Now I can gift this to everyone I know who has a little girl.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to share classic fairy tales with children-however, these tales are NOT sanitized and as such be careful which ones you choose while reading with younger kids...Kip the Enchanted Cat has a black-bearded giant that cut off a young princesses feet-a bit much for the 8 year-olds that I was reading with-we found another tale. The illustrations are excellent and the detailing is refreshing-it's a book to savor.

[Alycia Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a Queen who had a cat, who had a kitten. The kitten’s name is Kip. When the Queen had a daughter, the Princess and Kip became best friends. Kip disappeared for years. Kip came back when she became a cat and the Princess did not recognize Kip. When the Princess married, her husband and children enjoyed the stories about the enchanted cat named Kip. I had never heard this story before. However, this story is now one of my favorites!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairy tales the way I remember them. Some are gruesome, and I creatively edit for my 4 year old. She's starting to catch on though, as I'm hesitating as I edit out that Sleeping Beauty's new mother in law wants to eat her little children! Yikers. The pictures are beautiful -- the kind that you remember and carry with you to adulthood.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this book was reissued within the past 10 years, I immediately purchased a copy for myself, my mom and one for each of my sisters. When I saw it at the bookstore, I had a gut reaction to it. I had completely forgotten about it and when I saw it at the store I felt like a kid again, falling in love with the images and stories, just like I did - oh so many years ago.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The darkness of childhood. Demands and tests and cruelty presented with exquisite illustrations and book design. Most important source for the Japanese tale of Urashima and the Turtle. Paradox under water.

[Sharman Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books as a child. We got the Golden fairy tale books as special Christmas presents, and we read them over and over. My mom and big sister would do pastel, watercolor, and oil copies of the gorgeous illustrations.

[Diane]

I'm re-reading this now because of a comment someone made about reading fairy tales to children. this was the big book we read out of when I was little, and I remember I loved the pictures, and that the covers fell off.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories are told beautifully, and every illustration is utterly exquisite. After forty or fifty years, I can still recall them in blissful detail. It is hard to describe how deeply this book resonated with the very core of my being.

[Caitlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was so happy to find that this book made it with me on my move! (Wasn't sure for a bit there.) It's such a stunning book - in the literature, format, and illustrations. I am so happy that I still have this ever-cherished book from my childhood!

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations alone make this book worth getting. They're such lovely, breathtaking pictures - especially of the animals and the women. (I'm not too keen on how the guys were drawn. Some of them look creepy.)

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My child hood favorite, big beautiful illustrations of classic fairytales.

[Elisabeth Kinsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrienne Segur is perhaps the reason for all my dreams, nightmares, and creativity. Amazing illustrator--and the Fairy Tales, timeless.

[Elisa Ekafina]

Salah satu kumpulan dongeng yang wajib dipunya semua anak. Seru :)

[Guguk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gambarnya keren pisan!! (≧◡≦) Pengen punyaa~ *cumi* //cumaminjem ^ ^;

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't enough stars for this one. I read this more times than I can count as a girl. Took it to college with me. Found a second copy so both of my kids can have one.

[Mary Laiuppa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book as a child by my godmother. It was read, loved, graffitied by my sister, in college I had it rebound in burgundy leather with gold gilt lettering. It is my prized possession. The illustrations are unsurpassed in children's literature. There is now a reprint available which I recommend however the production isn't up to the original's standards. The paper is quite thin but the binding does not suffer from the delamination of the original and it has a dust jacket. If you have any children of a certain age in your family and they don't own this book, consider this for your next gift. There is also a reprint of The Snow Queen, good, but not quite up to the lofty heights of the original. I never tire of this book.