English Fairy Tales (Wordsworth Children's Classics) (Wordsworth Classics) [Paperback]

Arthur Rackham (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 1999 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Wordsworth Classics

This book contains over forty of the best-loved fairy stories, beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Favourites such as Jack the Giant-killer, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, The Three Little Pigs and The Babes in the Wood are all here among many others, but stories from different traditions also make their appearance, including The Three Bears and Little Red Hiding Hood.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (March 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853261335
• ISBN-13: 978-1853261336
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent English Fairy Tales, January 20, 2010

By 

Mithril (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: English Fairy Tales (Kindle Edition)

These stories were written in a rough tone and have an unpolished feel to them. This is not necessarily a detraction, and some tales were better than other, but it was occasionally wearying to read them in the poor grammar of colloquial speech. Hence, four stars. Also, it lacks an interactive table of contents.

Tales included are;

Tom Tit Tot
The Three Sillies
The Rose-Tree
The Old Woman and Her Pig
How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune
Mr. Vinegar
Nix Nought Nothing
Jack Hannaford
Binnorie
Mouse and Mouser
Cap o'Rushes
Teeny-Tiny
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Story of the Three Little Pigs
The Master and His Pupil
Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse
Jack and his Golden Snuff-Box
The Story of the Three Bears
Jack the Giant-Killer
Henny-Penny
Childe Rowland
Molly Whuppie
The Red Ettin
The Golden Arm
THe History of Tom Thumb
Mr. Fox
Lazy Jack
Johnny-Cake
Earl Mar's Daughter
Mr. Miacca
Whittington and his Cat
The Strange Visitor
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
The Cat and the Mouse
The Fish and the Ring
The Magpie's Nest
Kate Crackernuts
The Cauld Lad of Hilton
The Ass, the Table and the Stick
Fairy Ointment
The Well of the World's End
Master of All Masters
The Three Heads of the Well

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Collected by Joseph Jacobs, February 6, 2010

By 

Mariana Chaffee "always reading" (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: English Fairy Tales (Kindle Edition)

This is, in fact, the collection of stories that Joseph Jacobs collected in the late 19th or early 20th century, inspired by the work of the Brothers Grimm. Jacobs traveled throughout the countryside of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and he wrote the stories down as much as possible in the language in which they were told to him -- old fashioned folklore collection. These collections used to be available in Dover Editions, although I don't know if they are still. (Do Dover books ever go out of print???) The table of contents is not navigable, which could be a nuisance, but free is a good price. You could try constructing your own "table of contents" using bookmarks or highlights....

The stories are enjoyable, and fun to read aloud to kids. I'd give it 5 stars if the table of contents were navigable, take off 2 for the nuisance factor, add one because it's free. Four seems fair.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Collection of Fairy Tales, December 9, 2010

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: English Fairy Tales (Kindle Edition)

Fairy tales are usually thought of as children's literature, and in terms of how much children in particular are fascinated with them this categorization is not without a merit. However, most good fairy tales tap into some social or personal tension, a fact of life, or a natural phenomenon. They often take rather ordinary situations and push them to the limit of what our imagination considers plausible. Fairy tales are thus a form of reductio ad absurdum of common sense, and they often help us see various life situations in terms of their most basic principles. This is why fairy tales have had, and continue to have, a lot of fascination with adults as well.

Most of us have grown up with fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen or Brothers Grimm. There is a sort of cannon of western fairy tales that have become part of the common patrimony of the entire world - Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, and many others. However, these fairy tales are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the European fairy tales, and there are many other folk tales that are not as familiar as these and yet are equally beautiful and imaginative.

This collection of the English fairy tales is as great of a collection of fairy tales as they come. It is rather fascinating to see that even thought many fairy tales reflect certain English cultural norms, the basic structure and the motifs are surprisingly familiar. We have villains and heroes charged with an unusual and demanding task, monsters and unusual magical objects are everywhere, there are damsels-in-distress aplenty, and most tales take place "once upon a time." All of the tales are very well written and the language is crisp and contemporary. The dialogues, however, are replete with colloquial English expressions and turns of phrase, and these characteristics give the fairy tales a very folksy feel. This collection will be a great source of enjoyment for children and adults alike.