Children's Books discussion

Hi. I'm looking at finding a great collection of Aesop's fables for our family library. I love to purchase beautiful editions of classics for my kids, and I recently noticed that we don't have any Aesop. I'm particularly drawn to beautiful illustrations and well-written adaptions rather than overly simplified text with syrupy language.

Does anyone have particular editions that they can recommend?

From my reviews of some:

Unwitting Wisdom: An Anthology of Aesop's Fables is beautiful, but only has a dozen stories, a three-star book for me.

I gave four stars to The Lion and the Mouse and Other Aesop Fables; it is beautiful, too, and has fables that were new to me!

A more complete edition (which is what would have mattered most when I was a child and in love with these fables!) is the one copyright 1987, by Ward Lock Limited, Exeter Books, ISBN 0671087584, author and adaptor uncredited.

And then there's Aesop in California, a four star book for me, a stellar choice for anyone interested in the natural history of the Golden State.

Lacey wrote: "Hi. I'm looking at finding a great collection of Aesop's fables for our family library. I love to purchase beautiful editions of classics for my kids, and I recently noticed that we don't have any ..."

I love Aesop's Fables by Jerry Pinkney. Very appealing illustrations. Simple wording. Great variety of fables.

I happened to be looking at Baby's Own Aesop (1887) the other day, and I found it charming. By no means is it a replacement for a standard collection; instead, it distills the essence of each fable into....a limerick! Here's an example:

- The Bundle of Sticks -
To his sons, who fell out, father spake:
"This bundle of sticks you can't break;
Take them singly, with ease,
You may break as you please,
So, dissension your strength will unmake."
[Strength is in unity]

And it is, of course, lavishly illustrated in Walter Crane's distinctive style. You kind of have to know the fables going in to really appreciate it, but it's a clever take on the subject.

Thanks for these -- I'll have a lot of fun looking more closely at their reviews and hope to land on one to purchase. The idea of having accompanying limericks is so fun!