American Fairy Tales

by L. Frank Baum

In Chicago, an ordinary key unlocks a magical trunk packed with robbers and a pie. In Boston, five magical bon-bons make an ordinary senator, an ordinary professor, an ordinary girl and her ordinary parents do the most extraordinary things! A young cowboy lassoes Father Time; the dummy in Mr. Floman's department store window comes to life; and a tiny beetle gives a New England farmer and his wife a pump which pumps not water, but gold!
Author of the much-loved Oz books, L. Frank Baum transforms the familiar with his magical mix of humor and enchantment. Most of the twelve stories in this delightful collection are set in America where, so it seems, modern fairies, knooks, and ryls are always causing the most astonishing things to happen! These tales will enchant both young and old.
When American Fairy Tales first appeared, Baum's reputation as a storyteller had already been established by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written in 1900. The twelve stories in this collection were originally syndicated weekly in at least five newspapers during the first half of 1901. The first book edition, which this facsimile reprints, came out later that year.

Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Short Stories, Childrens, Ebooks

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

also wrote under the names:
* Edith van Dyne,
* Floyd Akers,
* Schuyler Staunton,
* John Estes Cooke,
* Suzanne Metcalf,
* Laura Bancroft,
* Louis F. Baum,
* Captain Hugh Fitzgerald

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.
Born and raised in Chittenango, New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio focused on children's films in Los Angeles, California.
His works anticipated such later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).

Reviews

[Literary Ames · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polar bears in drag. Zombie birds. Pink glass dogs. Baum's politically incorrect fairy tales have them all. Stereotypical Italian criminals aside, I enjoyed these stories of bargains gone wrong and villains reaping what they sow, with morals preaching against the seven deadly sins.

I listened to the free Librivox version expertly narrated by Matthew Reece.

★★★☆☆ The Box of Robbers
Think Pandora's Box with the demonisation of female curiosity. Instead of plagues we have Italian robbers who once released, set about doing what they do best.

"It is rather hard to get positions in the gas office," she said, "but you might become politicians."

"No!" cried Beni, with sudden fierceness; "we must not abandon our high calling. Bandits we have always been, and bandits we must remain!"

Haha! Bandit is certainly a more respectable profession than politician.

★★★★★ The Glass Dog
Bargaining, how not to do it. And the downside of vanity and greed. A complex tale sparked off by a wizard's animated pink glass dog. My favourite story.

★★★★★ The Queen of Quok
A 10-year-old boy king is forced into an arranged marriage when his royal aids auction off the title of Queen to a rich woman to fill the pockets of his greedy, spendthrift hangers-on.

"Can't I marry a mother, instead?" asked the poor little king, who had lost his mother when a baby.

"Certainly not," declared the counselor. "To marry a mother would be illegal; to marry a wife is right and proper."

Aww. Poor child.

The king was so disturbed at the thought that he must marry this hideous creature that he began to wail and weep; whereupon the woman boxed his ears soundly. But the counselor reproved her for punishing her future husband in public, saying:

"You are not married yet. Wait until to-morrow, after the wedding takes place. Then you can abuse him as much as you wish. But at present we prefer to have people think this is a love match."

A love match? Between a decrepit old woman and a 10-year-old boy? I love that this tale swaps stereotypical gender and age expectations. You'd expect an old man to marry a girl-child rather than vice versa.

My second favourite tale.

★★☆☆☆ The Girl Who Owned a Bear
Illustrations come to life and leap off the pages of a book opened by a little girl after it was given to her as a revenge gift aimed at her father. One of them, a bear, tries to eat the girl. She claims ownership of him as her name is on the book. If she owns the book, she owns the bear. This uncomfortably brought to mind the horrors of slavery.

★★★☆☆ The Enchanted Types
The slavery theme is continued here. Animal cruelty in the name of fashion. Those poor zombie birds. Interfering with alien cultural norms is tricky.

★★★★☆ The Laughing Hippopotamus
Slavery again. A man captures a young hippo prince and coerces him into accepting a bargain: release on condition of promising to return to the man when the hippo reaches adulthood, to be slaughtered or enslaved. Bondage doesn't sit well and the slaver faces the same fate he issued to the hippo.

★★★☆☆ The Magic Bon Bons
Don't judge someone based on transient unusual behaviour. And don't be careless with what you value as precious.

★☆☆☆☆ The Capture of Father Time
Although I didn't enjoy this tale of a child capturing Father Time, effectively stopping time, and then proceeding to engineer pranks for when time starts again, I can see this may have been a new concept back in 1901.

★★★☆☆ The Wonderful Pump
Everyone's heard of the crass, ostentatious displays of New Money. By showing off you risk others stealing what you have. Be grateful for what you have and don't be greedy for more.

★☆☆☆☆ The Dummy That Lived
A shop mannequin is brought to life at the whim of a fae and is absolutely clueless about the world and everything in it. Again, this was probably a relatively new idea at the time of publication but I didn't enjoy it.

★★★☆☆ The King of the Polar Bears
Don't judge polar bears dressed in drag. He's no less a respectable polar bear for covering himself with feathers.

★★☆☆☆ The Mandarin and The Butterfly
Karma justly rewards a racist for his actions against children.

[Harry Collier IV]

These stories are magical. Here we have Baum at the height of his powers as a storyteller. I do not know of many writers today who have carried on the tradition of the American bedtime story that Baum and others set up.

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

They were cute, but I was expecting better from the creator of the Wizard of Oz. Overall, the stories were pretty repetitive (similar morals) and rather boring.

The Box of Robbers: This wasn't really a fairy tale. I mean, it was fantasy, but it was also rather boring. It seemed that there was a lack of adventure and awfully bland to start a book.

The Glass Dog: beauty is only skin deep; rather funny. I think this was my second favorite in the book.

The Queen of Quok: I thought it was rather unbelievable (even for a fairy tale) to have the counselor count out millions of dollars worth of quarters.

The Girl Who Owned a Bear: Awfully similar to the Robbers in that the girl ends up alone with a new item and it causes trouble. I wasn't sure that just because she owned him she would be able to command him (do other people's pets listen in this way)?

The enchanted types: Leave well enough alone is a decent enough moral, but the story wasn't very gripping.

The laughing hippopotamus: Oh my god is this racist. Yea, I get that they are in Africa and he could certainly have called them black the first time he mentioned the men, but he didn't really need to repeat that it was a black man EVERY TIME the people were mentioned, did he? And it turns out that these blacks don't even have as much honor a as a hippo. Rather ridiculous.

The magic bon bons: I liked this story the most. Of course the plot was simple (lost candy) and rather predictable, but it was well done and cute.

The capture of father time: This was probably the worst story in the book. There was so much potential here and yet, all he did was cause mischief and ruckus.

The wonderful pump: Again, this was all about keeping one's mouth shut. If the farmer and his wife had just gone along with their newfound wealth without inviting theft it would have worked out well.

The dummy that lived: This reminded me of frosty the snowman; inanimate object comes to life and stumbles through town causing mayhem.

The King of the Polar Bears: Huh. I'm not really sure I got this one. Yeah, the stated moral is that we are more than outward appearance and there are certainly some pieces here about how to handle a bully, but it was just not compelling.

The Mandarin and the Butterfly: This was one of my least favorite stories. Turning pigs into boys and boys into pigs; we are back to the leave well enough alone moral from earlier in the book and overall we should mind our own business.

Overall it was an okay kid's book. My 9 year old seems to be enjoying the stories, but I was less than impressed.

[A.M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dating from 1901 some of these are pretty old fashioned and a little racist, but it is a work of its time. Each finishes with the moral of the story, just in case you missed it. Except for the glass dog tale. The dog barked and scared him away before he could ask the wizard what the moral was so it doesn’t have one. They are amusing and quite different from most other fairy tales I have read as they involve some modern things like buses, cars and shop mannequins.
1. The box of robbers
A small girl cleverly manages to unlock a huge chest that has been stored in the attic for many years. Three Italian bandits emerge. She argues with them that they cannot be bandits now, as this is America and they mourn the fact that they were respected in Italy and shudder at the thought that her father is a lawyer. Snort. Then they decide to rob her house.
2. The glass dog
An old glassblower makes a glass dog for his neighbour the wizard. He enchants it to bark at unwelcome door knockers. A tale of beauty, wealth and bad reasons for marriage, I suppose.
3. The queen of Quok
“A king once died, as kings are apt to do, being as liable to shortness of breath as other mortals.”
But this one has spent all the money and left his ten year old son alone. His advisors decide to marry him off to a rich woman, a prospect that he finds horrific as they are all so old. But luckily, one of the last items of furniture left is his bed and it hides a magic secret.
4. The girl who owned a bear
An outraged writer who has been refused takes out his revenge on Gladys, the book agent’s daughter. He gets her to write her name inside the book, which as any child knows, now makes it hers. But when she opens it circus creatures emerge from the pages but they are two dimensional and white on the side that wasn’t illustrated. How can she get them back into the book?
5. The enchanted types
Popopo the knook goes to the city. Nope, I have no idea what a knook is either. Ah… googled it - it’s a magical creature of Oz that lives in the woodlands. This knook ‘frees’ all the stuffed birds in a hat shop. He tries to replace them with mice, and needless to say, it doesn’t go well. The birds refuse to go back.

“Fashions, ” said a black bird, solemnly, “are made by men. What law is there, among birds or knooks, that requires us to be the slaves of fashion? ”

6. The laughing hippopotamus
The chubby son of the hippo queen falls into a man’s pit. He agrees to return in a year and a day as he is too small to eat now. His distraught mother goes to the Glinkomok - a fearful creature part beast, part man, part fowl and part fish - to ask his advice.
7. The magic bonbons
Claribel Sudds, wishes to be an actress so she pays a sorcerer/chemist to make her a box of bonbons; each will grant her an enhanced skill. But she leaves the box on the ribbon counter at the dry goods store and another customer takes it home. The treats are served at a dinner party attended by a professor and a senator and the results are … interesting.
8. The capture of father time
Jim, the son of a cowboy, lassos someone he cannot see and it turns out to be Father Time. He insists that Jim let him go but Jim thinks time needs a rest and takes him, still bound, back to the town where he discovers that everyone and everything is frozen at a moment in time, except for him. He thinks this is the perfect chance to make mischief.
9. The wonderful pump
An old woman, back bowed from carrying water, rescues a bug on her way to the river. In return the bug tells her to dig a new well. But the well delivers gold coins, not water and it makes their life very complicated.
10. The dummy that lived
A mischievous elf animates a dress store dummy. Having no idea how to act she attempts to mingle with people in the street but she can’t read, has no money and doesn’t know how to act. Mayhem ensues.
11. The king of the polar bears
The king of the polar bears is shot and skinned by men. The sea gulls lend him their feathers because he always feeds them his scraps. But the other bears say that a furless feathered bear cannot be their king any more.
12. The mandarin and the butterfly
A horribly grumpy mandarin is ordered to emigrate to America because he gets on with nobody in China. There he has no better luck and when he opens a laundry, the local children peer at him through the windows and annoy him no end. After catching a butterfly, he uses a stolen magic book to speak to it and then to make a potion. When the butterfly dips its feet into the potion and then lands on a child, they will be turned into pigs. Naturally, the butterfly has no soul and no conscience and it doesn’t work out quite the way the mandarin intended.

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recently read an article about fairy tales by Marie Brennan in which she explains how fairy tales are physically distant yet psychologically close, and that idea gives me some framework for why I found these tales both dull and pointlessly silly. And I tend to like silly, but not this kind. While the absurd is kind of normalized and therefore psychologically close in American Fairy Tales, the protagonists in each tale undergo no psychological growth themselves, nor are the magical elements indicative of any kind of possible growth or purpose. Also, I had trouble getting over the racist elements. I know this book is for kids, but I read plenty of YA fiction that is both silly and wise.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book because it was a free Kindle book. It was interesting. Some of the fairy tales are cute and some are strange--and it was written a very long time ago. Not many of these are actually stories I would read to my children at their current ages, however.

[Dr Goon Taco Supreme · Rating 5 out of 5]

“American Fairy Tales,” by L. Frank Baum is a quirky and creative collection of short stories written for children and it's a lot of fun to read.

The short stories in the book have a delightful weirdness to them that is entertaining for a person of any age.

The stories reminded me of “Fractured Fairytales,” from, "Rocky and Bullwinkle," and I even read some of the stories in the voice of the narrator from the cartoon. It got me so nostalgic that I looked a compilation of "Fractured Fairytales," from, "Rocky and Bullwinkle," up on Youtube and I sat and watched them for quite a while. There's definitely a similarity in style and in weirdness between this book and that cartoon.

"American Fairy Tales," was very entertaining and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for something charming to read.

I also read this book on my new Kindle and this is the very first book I have ever read on a Kindle all the way through.

Here's what I thought. First of all, I noticed several typos while reading, and I’m not sure if there would be as many mistakes in a printed book. I don't know why that would be the case since I would assume that the Kindle version of a book is just a digital version that has yet to be printed but I don't actually know that for a fact.

One thing for sure though is that I really like the Kindle feature where you can press on a word and its definition pops up. That is simply a brilliant feature, and makes it 100% more likely that I will look a word up.

The only complaint I have about the Kindle is that I don’t know where I am in the book. I know it tells me what percentage I’ve read, but that’s not the same as knowing where you are in a physical copy. I guess I don’t feel like I have my “sea legs,” if you will.
I’m not sure where I an within the book, and I feel like I'm just floating in the space of a story, tapping on endless type. This doesn’t bother me, per se, but I do think it is an experience that is different from reading a physical copy of a book. Neither good nor bad. Just different.

At any rate, whether you choose to read a physical copy of “American Fairy Tales,” or read it on you Kindle, I believe you will enjoy it.

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pesar de ser una rama de libros de terror, este no lo es, por eso lo han puesto en verde. La edición buena, a falta de perfeccionarla con hojas cosidas. Han corregido el error que creo que tuvieron en las dos anteriores, de poner un precio alto para tan pocas páginas. En este caso viene con las ilustraciones originales, las que son muy buenas y clásicas.

Nos trasportara a aquellas historietas que nos contaba el abuelo o los papas cuando éramos unos pollos. Ese regusto a fantasía clásica infantil lo tiene en pleno auge, con su trocha moraleja al final que hasta la especifica. Excelente libro para toda la familia.

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

All kinds of wonderful.stories here. While the stories can be fabulous in nature, the fabulous news is toned down. The stories rather than the emotions or the wonder shine through.

Some stories show what what happening among Americans at the time. Houses had attics. Children were given time and space. Curiosity educated. As much as middle-class children had certain freedoms, so did wealthy women wanting titles too have the freedom to buy coronets. Here we have one terrible and good story about such buying of coronets.

However much things have changed, some things have remained the same. Wealthy easily received will too often easily go. A lesson those who want to win the lottery are warned about all the time.

Well-crafted stories by a master writer.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all Baum is definitely not one of my favorite authors thus ranking down at the bottom along with Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, which all I truly really dislike deeply. And seeing that my sister had chosen out this particular book I was more or less worried about the stories that I would find within, especially if they would end up mimicking those stories based on the Oz series, which was a total flop in my opinion.

And so it is with some surprise that although the book isn't one that I would return to in the end nor recommend it to others I would suggest it to people who may enjoy Baum, definitely ranking it over the Oz series as a must-read. At the same time, though, it would not be a suggested read for children since some of the subject matter may more or less be considered more for the subject of nightmares than a children's read.

The writing of each of the twelve stories isn't told in the same style and voice as the one previous to it so the reader is kept on their toes as to what will happen next. Predictably due to the age of the writing and the times the stories can be considered politically incorrect and racist for those who look for such things while it is also quite an interesting viewpoint to know that although Baum's main works had little girls as protagonists the ones in this story are mainly dealt with the same kind of contempt although still in the end they triumph over the odds of their situations.

Furthermore since of the more modern time for these stories readers will be able to relate themselves more or less to the more conveniences of these stories when compared to the quite older fairytales. Nor do they have quite as much magical elements as those that fairytale and fantasy fans are quite used to.

And finally the author shows his true genius. Although not every story has a moral at the end of it, the majority do. Unlike those gently given out with the more famous shared fables these ones are truly American in their presentation while showcasing the true wit and writing genius of the more celebrated Baum.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original fairy tales that, from the pen of the writer who created 'The Wizard of Oz', and very amusing all twelve of them are too in an irreverent, genre-jibing way.

'The Box' of Robbers' is about a young girl whose curiosity leads to her having to outwit a trio of (admittedly less than terrifying) Italian bandits, then in 'The Glass Dog' the ungrateful lover motif becomes a (non)shaggy dog story with a (non)fairy tale ending.

In a good example of Baum's wit, 'The Queen of Quok' starts with the line, 'A king once died, as kings are apt to do, being as liable to shortness of breath as other mortals', then proceeds to get even sillier.

'The Girl Who Owned a Bear' sees the characters from a book step off the page, bringing with them the artist's defects, while a magical knook named Popopo decides to visit the planet earth in 'The Enchanted Types', causing all sorts of millenary mayhem until he understands fashion a little better.

'The Laughing Hippopotamus' does so like this - 'Guk-uk-uk-uk! ... and if you think a hippopotamus does not laugh this way you have but to listen to one and you will find I am right.' The punch line at the end made me laugh out loud because I (stupidly) didn't foresee it!

A young cowboy and his lasso stop time in 'The Capture of Father Time', where I liked the gentle pranks Baum conjured up out the situation. 'The Wonderful Pump' answers the question of just where the gold comes from that magical animals always bestow on the people in such fairy tales.

[Judine Brey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's face it, the creator of Oz knows how to make magic seem real in early 20th century America. This collection of stories focused on lessons that were sometimes silly (don't open things that don't belong to you. . . there might be pirates inside), but usually based in reality (if you flaunt your wealth, it will be taken from you). While there were some cultural stereotypes (like the Chinese laundry), that was probably to be expected given when Baum was writing. Overall, a fun, quick read.

[Dale Offret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a different book than I had expected. Each new story had a voice and tempo I had to change and become aquainted with. Fun stories overall. Nice to get in touch with what children and young people thought about during those times.

[Laura Craner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was so funny; very tongue-in-cheek. Baum was an expert storyteller and it really shows in the variety and creativity in these tales--especially the "morals" at the end of each story. This is one that was enjoyable for me and my children.

[Yasmeen Asha · Rating 4 out of 5]

حكايات خرافية من أمريكا

كتاب للاطفال ويصلح للكبار يحتوي على مجموعة من القصص
الجميلة لنخوض في كل قصة مغامرة جديدة وغريبه
وفي نهاية كل قصة ومغامرة نجد عبرة من هذه القصة
عبرة لنستفيد منها في حياتنا لنتعلم من هذه القصص بعض الامور

احببت الكتاب واستمتعت كثيراً بقراءته

[Lydia Batchelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read a handful of the stories in here, but I read all of the ones connected to Oz, and I can count it towards my reading goal and no one can tell me not to.

I do think that his books aren’t bad, they just lack lessons and themes, which aren’t necessary in kids books or any kind of books, but they would just add so much to his stories.

[Sean]

Fairy tales of wizards and kings and the occasional cowboy or department store dummy. Rather half-baked morals at the end of most. Okay but underwhelming, and it didn't strike me as particularly American in character.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cute collection but some of the stories definitely deserve an "outdated cultural depictions" label and on the whole it's very much a product of the author's time (though that is to be expected).

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thankfully, a way to be rid of some bullshit--like political correctness and such nonsense.

[Mateo Tomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

More absurdist than moral. Beautiful illustrations by George Kerr.

[Adam Bloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd collection of stories.

[M.A. Kropp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve stories penned by American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Washington Irving, Carl Sandburg, and others. The stories are all uniquely American in some way, and many depart from the familiar European style fairy tale of the likes of the Brothers Grimm. There is a preface that gives a summation of the growth of American fairy tales (written by Alison Lurie), and each tale is prefaced by a short biographical piece on the author. Illustrations by Michael McCurdy are black-and-white ink drawings. An afterword by Philip puts the stories into a historical framework.

It might surprise some people to learn that there are American fairy tales. Most people equate fairy tales with the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and other European storytellers. But there is a tradition of American tales that, while not necessarily involving fairies or monsters in the usual sense, do fall into the general category of fairy tales, or, perhaps more precisely, folk tales. This book gathers twelve of those stories into one volume, and is a nice collection for anyone interested in folk tales and lore of any background. Some of these stories and authors are familiar: Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle", for example. Some are less familiar: Frank Stockton's "The Bee-man of Orn" or Howard Pyle's "The Apple of Contentment". And some may be surprised that the likes of Louisa May Alcott and Carl Sandburg wrote fairy tales.

As for the stories themselves, they run the gamut from those that hold close to the European traditional fairy tale format with American settings and characters, to those that are more unique to their country of origin. Some of the truly American tales utilize the language and colloquial American dialect, or draw on very American superstitions and beliefs, or silly and nonsensical words and phrases. Some may be a bit difficult to read, especially the older ones where the language is more old-fashioned and Colonial. They are all valuable to anyone interested in folk tales and especially to we Americans. The more scholarly parts, in the introductions to each story and the afterword, help to put the whole collection in its historical place.

This book is both a study of American storytelling which will be valued by anyone interested in the development of American literature, and an entertaining set of tales that can easily fit in the fairy tale class.

[Scot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun quick read, something for the inner child. Twelve short fantasy stories by the author of The Wizard of Oz, most of them set in middle class American situations of the time, with delightful magical realism introduced. The morals at the end are often wry, and the basic plotlines in a few situations, if not used before, have certainly been used since: two of the story concepts were later reworked for classic themes of The Twilight Zone. In one, a mannequin comes to life (ah yes, this harkens back to Pygmalion), but Baum makes it fun by focusing on the early 20th century department store and proper street etiquette of the time. In another, a fellow stops time so that he is the only one not affected--being a young cowboy relocated to the big city, he takes the opportunity for some pranking. Be forewarned that the cultural and racial biases of the day will be apparent, particularly in one story when three Italians magically appear in a trunk an inquisitive girl opens in a Chicago attack, and in another when a hungry hippopotamus regrets that Africans are so oily when you eat them. Notwithstanding these revelatory details of a less inclusive past, Baum is a charming diversion--and free: you can access these stories free online, download them as a free e-book, or even read them through a phone app. Enjoy.

[Megan Reichelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really charming set of tales. L. Frank Baum, of course, wrote The Wizard of Oz, and he takes his odd humor, and wondrous ideas and creates a set of fairy tales.

You meet a girl who discovers a box of robbers in her attic, a boy who captures Father Time, the King of the Polar Bears who looses his fur coat, a wax dummy who comes to life, townspeople who accidentally eat magic bon-bons that make them sing and dance, a plummer who is in love with a princess, and many more quirky characters. My favorite tale was "The Girl Who Owned a Bear," the story of a little girl who's father had ruined a book agent's business, so the book agent decides to give the daughter a book of horrible beasts that step off the page. But she is clever and thwarts him in the end.

Each of these stories has a lesson, or a moral, like "This story teaches us that true dignity and courage depend not upon outward appearance, but come rather from within; also that brag and bluster are poor weapons to carry into battle."

My favorite moral, however, is "As for the glass dog, the wizard set him barking again by means of his wizardness and put him outside his door. I suppose he is there yet, and am rather sorry, for I should like to consult the wizard about the moral to this story."

[Jennifer]

I read these as bed-time stories to my son. He's too young to understand them, but he does like to be read to at bed-time (I'm sure it's the soft, slow voice that works sort of like white noise), so I've been taking this opportunity and vetting stories that I can add to his library for when he is older.

I think these are okay, for the most part, or at least some of them are okay. I actually really like the story of the brave, clever girl and the thieves, and the other of the book that came to life. There are racial and ethnic stereotypes in some of the stories (even some of the better ones), but that's easily gotten around. I change the thieves to come from Brobdingnag and the Chinese magician became a Vladavadian magician (well, that one took a little more retooling). And in the story of the hippo, I just called the men 'men' and skipped the constant descriptive terms.

Unfortunately, these work-arounds will only serve when I'm prepared for them, and when I read the stories out-loud.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few somewhat sour notes thanks to the difficult-to-avoid proliferation of racially insensitive stories in older works: this is otherwise a delightful collection of "modern" (at the time) fairy tales springing from the fertile imagination of an enviably inventive author.

I'm on my way to compiling a complete set of Baum's works, and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable these stories were. Several made me laugh out loud; Baum's trademark quirky, irreverent creativity mixes with rather dark moral lessons in places, lending a depth and intelligence to the collection. His talent certainly shines the most brightly when he's spinning up fantastical worlds or creating his own mythologies. It feels greedy to wish for more of these stories, considering how many Oz books he churned out in his lifetime, but I'm intrigued by some of his other creations and would have gladly spent more time bouncing from one miniature Baum world to another.

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprise, surprise - Amazon/Kindle offers classics for free. Being that my analytical adult mind is painfully lacking in creativity and imagination as compared to my 3 year old daughter's, I gladly accepted this gift. By reading fairy tales, I was hoping to cultivate my skills of weaving fantastical stories. Indeed, these were exactly that. These stories were far beyond my own imagination and included tall tales such as thieves jumping out of luggage chests, magic being used by butterflies, a water pump that gives gold coins, and mischievous little boys that stop time. I'm happy to now have a few templates to utilize during our bedtime story ritual.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest stand-out in this children's short story collection is The Glass Dog - quirky and completely Baum but not in some far-distant fantastical world. The best quotable comes from "A Box of Robbers":

"It is rather hard to get positions in the gas office," she said, "but you might become politicians."

"No!" cried Beni, with sudden fierceness; "we must not abandon our high calling. Bandits we have always been, and bandits we must remain!"


A couple of these are clearly products of their time and showcase some cultural ignorance and xenophobia. But that doesn't make them any less American, just dated.

[Katie Cat Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Racist. Nonsensical. No morals.

Story: This is a collection of short stories. Not fairy tales. While many have magic or fantasy characteristics, that's about all they have in common with fairy tales.

Language: This book is filled with racist stereotypes and illustrations. The grammar in most of the dialogue is horrid. Many of the themes or stories are inappropriate for children, yet too childish for adults.

Characters: Most of the stories feature small children, but also included are a Chinaman, a polar bear, a storeroom dummy, and so on.

The only story I liked was "the king of the polar bears." I recommend you skip this book!

[Judah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by L. Frank Baum (best known for his beloved 'Oz' series of Fantasies), American Fairy Tales take a humorous tongue-in-cheek tone with 13 fairy tales than gently satire either the American culture of 1901, fairy tales and moral stories, or our human nature.
Most ,but not all , have a moral clause at the end. Ultimately I found the book highly amusing, and in line with Baum's Oz related fantasies. People sensitive with politically correct issues won't enjoy some of the stereotypes of natives and chinamen ,but those who can look outside their own era will find an enjoyable romp.