Customer Reviews

Aesop's Fables

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've always loved Aesop's Fables and to have them all in one neat collection here on my Kindle for my PC is just great! There ARE capital letters where appropriate, so I'm not sure what the other reviewer here had going on with their version. Rest assured that the problem has now been fixed and it's easy reading. My only complaint is that the individual stories listed in the contents are not click-able and you do have to navigate page by page to get where you need to go. I still believe that this deserves a five star rating though in spite of that just because it is so nice to have all the fables in one place like this for free. You can't beat it!

Careful! These reviews do not all refer to the same edition of Aesop's Fables. Read them carefully. You will also discover this set of reviews replicated most (but not all) the time you click on any other edition with the title "Aesop's Fables." The database does not understand that they all aren't the same book. Sigh.

The short stories attributed to Aesop have been around for over 2,500 years. Many times no longer than a paragraph is enough for the reader to see the moralistic truth of the world around us summed up in a brief encounter between animals. The illustrations are well done and will be appreciated by adults, but for the most part were not created for children. The vocabulary and grammar can also be difficult for young children on their own, but will be understood if it is read to them with the proper pauses and inflections. Every fable has its moral underneath it. Many of them children will recognize from other storybooks. Every teacher should have a collection of Aesop's fables. Although this edition is not the best for young children it would still make an excellent addition to the classroom library.

Why 4 stars?:
While I do feel this is a good book to read to children and to show the illustrations to. It will be too difficult for them to read on their own.

The paperback edition of "Aesop's Fables" should NOT be confused with the Hardcover edition of the same name, that other reviews on this page refer to. While I think the illustrations are quite lovely and the fables familiar, I (probably through no one's fault but my own), did not get what I expected. There are only 13 fables, some of which are little more than a few lines long, and there is no additional commentary or context. The price is reasonable for what it is, but this is not a soft cover edition of the hard cover of the same name!

This collection of Aesop's Fables is great because it is a Kindle freebie and allows me to store the fables in a convenient format (though I have several print versions of the Fables in my home library). There is a lengthy introduction by G.K. Chesterton which is insightful and informative, followed by the fables which appear to be a complete collection of Aesop's Fables. The only complaint I have is that the Table of Contents does not allow for the reader to click on a particular title to gain access to it. Instead, the reader has to manually scroll through all the titles in the order listed to get from one story to the next. Fortunately, the fables are relatively short and easy to get through. This is an excellent collection and being a freebie is definitely an added bonus!

On my birthday in second grade, my parents gave me a package containing these stories, written by the ancient Aesop. I read through it, at first not enjoying it much, thinking ,"What fun could it be to read something wrtitten by some old guy?" after reading through one fable, I was changed. My heart lightened, and I finished the book inside my favorite blanket within a day,and my parents were surprised that I had already finished. And even if it was heavy reading for a second grader, I loved it and have read it several times over again. I suggest that everyone should read this book because of the helpful morals that allow you to understand everyday life.

Beware - This book is intended for mature readers. What I am referring to, is the style and vocabulary used in which the fables are told in the book. When I bought the book, I had intended to use it as a bed-time story book for my 7 and 5 year-olds. I found myself having to paraphrase quite a bit because it was written with a lot of subtlety and words that are not oft used in today's language. Also, the book is very loyal to the classical rendition of Aesop's fables, and the morals can be quite dark and unforgiving. For someone who appreciates good literature and tastefully paired art work, it is a good read. I would recommend this book for older kids to be read on their own.

Short, literate stories, each with a moral, allowing a child to get the idea of drawing a generalization from a story. The brevity makes them understandable as wholes and a manageable size for older children to read (my four-year-old child finds them interesting enough to motivate her reading and short enough to permit success). My favorite editions of these tales place one fable and illustration per page. More at strongbrains.com.

The basis behind Aesop's Fables is the fact that this storyteller used animals to teach certain lessons that turn out to be contradictory if you have the time to compare them.

Reading the scholarship at the very beginning really helped me to grasp the fables more than I would have on my own. Unfortunately, I feel the overall scholarship was biased and I'm quite perturbed at how fashionable it is in the academic community today to discredit anything Greek. Sure, there were civilizations before the Greeks and much of what Greece had has been lost due to conquests of the country and an untold number of wars that were no fault of theirs, but that doesn't mean that everything Greek is to be shrouded in a thick mist of doubt and/or automatically discredited.

Whether or not Aesop was real and whether he/she was a singular storyteller or a group of storytellers remains to be seen but one thing is for sure and that this edition is a very easy, quick read. But *do* take the time to really read and appreciate the use of animals in teaching lessons (and especially to the lessons themselves!).

A great tale to read after you finish this is George Orwell's "Animal Farm," which incorporates the animal as storyteller theme quite nicely (and the book that scholar D.L. Ashliman recommends to the reader while discussing the finer points of the fables at the beginning of this edition).

Many of these fables will stick with you because of their timelessness. This is a great addition to any library and a must on your classic literature "To Read" list. - Donna Di Giacomo

This rather famous and highly extraordinary gathering of short tales written by Aesop is often overlooked by most people, who look to Hans Christian Andersen (the Dane) and the Brothers Grimm when wanting to read fantastic tales.

Aesop's tales are much older than most other collections of tales that you can find nowadays. His tales and stories are rather unusual, as many wondrous creatures and items exist in his 'world'. Items that speak and have emotions, nice demons, wicked fairies that spew forth from cracks in the earth and people who behave in very strange, amusing and unexpected ways. In any case, if you like to have your imagination tickled and challenged, you shouldn't hesitate when buying this book.

Most stories in here are also suitable for children, although certain, more advanced and intricate, aspects of the stories will be lost on them. A good thing about that, is that kids can read it when they're rather young, and if they pick the book up again at a later stage in life, new thoughts on the stories will dawn on them, since their intellects have developed and are able to grasp twists and plots in the small tales that kids aren't likely to comprehend.

As I've said before, many of these tales are rather unusual, and unless strange and unusual old tales interest you, go buy some of the more known collection of children's tales. This book is both for kids and adults.