Product Description

This beautiful volume celebrates the best-loved stories of childhood through the vision of Maria Tatar, a leading expert in the field of folklore and children's literature. Challenging the notion that fairy tales can be read for their morals and used to make model citizens of little children, Tatar guides readers through the stories, exploring their historical origins, their cultural complexities and their psychological effects. Maria Tatar shows that by providing children with powerful models for navigating reality, these tales help children survive in a world ruled by adults. Twenty-six classic stories are presented - including "Beauty and the Beast", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "The Little Mermaid". Maria Tatar has also assembled over 300 mostly four-colour photographs, paintings and illustrations, some very rare, creating a volume that will rank as one of the finest fairy tale collections in many decades.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95171 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-29
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 10.25" h x 9.00" w x 1.50" l, 3.24 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From Library Journal
The publisher, which has had great success with its series of annotated children's books (e.g., Alice in Wonderland, Huckleberry Finn), takes on all the great fairy tales.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-The level of content, commentary, and art in this beautifully designed volume will confound anyone who contends that fairy tales are "just for kids." Tatar presents fresh and appealing translations of 26 traditional stories (primarily European), accompanied by engrossing annotations placed attractively in the wide margins of the large-sized pages. In clear, accessible prose, she links the tales to their original oral traditions and cultural contexts, and discusses the varied interpretations imposed by critics over time and across philosophical and psychological perspectives. Hundreds of high-quality, color reproductions of period illustrations illuminate and enhance Tatar's cogent remarks about the power of illustrators to influence and comment on a story through visual interpretation. The supplemental sections are as fascinating as the main material: biographies of authors, collectors, and illustrators; variant texts of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Three Bears"; the illustrations of Walter Crane and George Cruikshank; and an extensive bibliography. This book offers multiple pleasures for browsing, pondering, and sharing, and is as good a source for reading aloud as for research.
Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The commentary is as fascinating as the stories and art in this large-size collection of 26 classic, mainly European, fairy tales, which have been newly translated in an immediate colloquial style. "Spare me your blubbering!" the witch tells Gretel. "Do I have to go as I am, in these shabby clothes?" Cinderella asks her fairy godmother. True to the oral tradition, each lively tale is perfect for reading aloud; but in addition, Harvard professor Tatar brings folklore scholarship to the general reader with annotations right there in the margins of the spacious pages. She talks about historical context, psychology, feminism, cultural variations, and more. She also includes more than 300 color illustrations by classic artists and discusses how they extend the stories. Far from any therapeutic approach, in Tatar's view, fairy tales say that life is hard and the pleasure is in defeating those "giant stepmothers, ogres, monsters, and trolls also known as grownups." With a lengthy bibliography and biographies of authors, artists, and collectors, this is for folklore collections as well as for storytellers in the library and at home. Hazel Rochman
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