Customer Reviews

Annotated Classic Fairy Tales

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This is a beautifully illustrated book. That has a lot of excellent background information on popular fairy tales. Fairy Tales are now mostly regarded as stories for children. When the truth of the stories, are much more fascinating.
Then one would think.

A thoroughly delightful book! Ms Tatar retells many classic tales with wit and insight that injects these familiar stories with new life. Beautifully illustrated as well, although many of the illustrations were rather small to see in detail. Made me want to read more of Tatar's critical work. There's so much cultural and historical aspects to these enduring stories!

What a delight it is to have such readable versions of these stories in a user-friendly format. The commentary is refreshingly free of Freudian jargon and sentimental cliches. Getting the historical background is, as I discovered, vital to understanding what is at the heart of these tales.

I will never read Little Red Rood or Goldilocks and the Three Bears in the same way again after learning about how they have evolved from adult stories to childrens' tales.

Shrewd and insightful, but also full of wit and imagination, Tatar takes us to a new level with her commentary--which is neither overly elusive nor condescending.

This is probably not the edition of fairy tales you want to curl up with while reading to your three-year-old (primarily because of its measurable heft). This was the version I purchased after reading dozens of fairy tales to my sons and began wondering why these tales have been so enduring -- or, endearing -- over the centuries. Tatar's versions, along with her helpful introductions, helped me greatly understand why these stories have been handed down through the generations. She brings in not only the historical context of several French and German fairy tales, but remains as faithful to the "original" version as possible, given the fact that these were primarily oral stories being told. Of primary value within this volume for me were the numerous original-edition illustrations generously sprinkled throughout. These, as much as Tatar's well-written and researched narrative, helps the reader understand what portions of the fairy tales were emphasized over the years.

A superbly designed, very reasonably priced hardcover volume of 26 celebrated fairy tales, Maria Tatar's THE ANNOTATED CLASSIC FAIRY TALES takes a somewhat scholarly glance at these familiar short works. For each story, Tartar provides a brief but informative introduction that concisely discusses the genesis of the tale before exploring historical/cultural intricacies of the text, all written in an erudite but easily accessible manner. Many of the stories here are presented in fresh new translations by Tatar herself, sporting numerous lush and beautiful illustrations taken from a variety of sources.

Its a welcome and entertaining volume, but it must be noted that THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT by Bruno Bettelheim examines many of these same tales with far more depth, insight and enthusiasm. Tatar's notes are surprisingly sparse and offer very little real critical analyses of the tales at hand, especially in comparison to such copiously annotated and richly enlightening similar works like THE ANNOTATED MOTHER GOOSE by William & Ceil Baring-Gould or THE ANNOTATED ALICE by Martin Gardner. Nonetheless, this comes highly recommended as a great collection of definitive versions of some of the most beloved fairy tales, accompanied by over 300 often stunning illustrations.

I got this for my two daughters, but ended up reading it as soon as it arrived. Unlike most collections of fairy tales, which get pretty boring after the third or fourth story, this one drew you in. Commentary is very down-to-earth here, telling you about historical context, other versions, and interesting tidbits. Wish the illustrations were larger because sometimes you can't see detail.

This is a great book! Wonderful pictures! Great for all adges!!

I loved this volume. It's great to know about all the different versions of fairy tales, and I especially liked the user-friendly format which lets you read the stories and savor the illustrations, along with the commentary, which is just right. I learned a lot from the introductions to each story, and I am reading some of these to my nephew, who adored "The Emperor's New Clothes," and even though he is six, he wanted to read the commentary!

I am always fascinated by annotations of classic works because of the insights I gain from them. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales is especially interesting because the works Maria Tatar includes are familiar (at least most of them are) but, her notes reveal, have a much deeper and sometimes darker history than we thought. The book includes some universal favorites like The Emperor's New Clothes and Cinderella and some less known but interesting stories like Molly Whuppie and The Juniper Tree. Each story has a great variety of classic illustrations from masters like Cruikshank and Dore. Another nice touch are the biographies of some of the authors and illustrators included at the end. Whether you are a child, have a child, or are a child at heart, you will love this collection.

I found this to be a wonderful book to use with my children and it is a great bargain with all the fabulous illustrations that are included in this work. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book. I love the variant tellings of the fairy tales and is a great concept to have the children to whom you are reading use their imagination as well. I think I actually enjoy reading this as much as the children.