Customer Reviews

Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales: A Treasury of Children's Classics

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really wanted to get my daughter a special collection of fairy tales for Christmas, and had a hard time finding just what I wanted---stories aimed at preschoolers, with the basic elements of each tale intact but without the most scary parts (I'm not opposed to those, just not for little little ones!),and with not too many words on each page, with lively and many illustrations and with my favorite stories included. I got it all in this treasury!

I am not a collector of Englebreit books as some people are---I like her drawings pretty well, but I wouldn't call myself a huge fan. However, she is perfect for this collection! The pictures are bright and cheerful and detailed, and really add to each story.

The stories include the basics I love---The Three Little Pig, Goldilocks, Jack in the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, The Little Red Hen and more. They are told at just the right pace for a preschooler, and are nice versions.

I'm really glad to have this book, and to highly recommend it!

The stories are quite nice, but if you want your kid to know the original versions for example with the wolf that actually gobbles Grandma and Little Red Ridinghood up and dies at the end, because they put rocks in his belly and he falls into the well and drowns, then this book is not the one for you....

We picked this as an afterthought and found it to be a delightful surprise. The selection of classic fairy tales, from Grimm and Anderson, is excellent--not a bad story in the lot. Our little boy asked to read all of the stories, and requested some several times. What is great about the stories is that, on the one hand, they are somewhat condensed over some versions you may have encountered, while on the other hand, they are told in a very engaging way. I should mention that the stories are also made even more harmless than they are often made. The Gingerbread Boy isn't eaten by the fox; he barely escapes, which our boy seemed to think was a nice change. And while the Big Bad Wolf does gulp up Granny and Little Red Riding Hood, the woodcutter doesn't kill the wolf, etc., he merely gives him a good scolding, and that does the trick. This isn't done out of some stupid bowdlerization of the tales. Instead, as the introduction says, Engelbreit is "an artist of kindliness and comfort"--something our little boy definitely responded to. This is the best collection of simple fairy tales for a young preschooler we've yet found.

My son loves books and we read all the time. Looking through our extensive children's book collection I realized we didn't have any classic fairy tales. I went searching for a good collection and decided on this one. It is perfect! The illustrations are what you would expect from Mary Englebreit - charming and colorful - perfect for a children's book. He likes to find things "hidden" in the pictures. More importantly to me, the stories are a great length for children's short attention spans. My son is now 19 months and he always sits happily until we are finished. The scary parts are watered down to make it appropriate for young children. (e.g., the wolf lets Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma climb out after receiving a scolding from the wood cutter.) It is also a great collection of stories. This now goes in my basket of "must haves" for baby shower gifts. Love it!

(stories include Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, The Little Red Hen, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The City Mouse and the County Mouse, The Gingerbread Boy, Hansel & Gretel, The Elves and The Shoemaker, and the Ugly Duckling)

This book was as described, in new condition. It contains all the classic stories you want to read to your children/grandchildren. The bright colorful pictures will spark interest in younger children.

I love ME's artwork, but these story endings were just ridiculous. For example, at the end of little red riding hood the wolf goes away embarrassed (doesn't die) and at the end of the gingerbread man I asked my 2 yr old daughter what she thought would happen to him ("he'll get eaten up") and did that happen like all the other gingerbread stories we know? NO! He jumps away! So I was left wanting and bought other nursery tale books (richard scarry's nursery tales) and another gingerbread man book in search for better endings or at least like the traditional tales (i.e. in which the characters die). I like the same old traditional tales with the traditional endings not fluff.

Nursery Tales - we all grew up with them and we will never grow out of them. A beautiful book.

I bought this book for my 3 year old after I realized she didn't have a proper story tale book with the main classics. I searched for awhile before I came upon this book (thought it was rhymes before I read the table of contents). Anyway, I definitley recommend this for a child that doesn't need to read from board books anymore, but still needs relatively short stories to keep them interested. The illustrations are beautiful as well. My only gripe (not really) is the ending on some of the stories. I'm happy they aren't sad or scary, especially for little ones, but where's the moral of the story? The gingerbread man is still arrogant, no moral learned there. Not a fan of the Little Red Riding Hood ending, but then again it is a child's book. I'll just be sure to buy a more accurate when my little one gets older.

I have enjoyed Mary Engelbreit's whimsical illustrations for many years, and have received a few MEInk gifts over the years. So, when I saw she had a nursery tales book out I had to see it. We checked it out from our local library and it immediately became a favorite of both my 2 and 4 year olds. My 2 year old would haul the book onto her lap (it's a big book so she was practically hidden underneath it) and look at the pictures for long stretches at a time by herself. My 4 year old loved to re-tell the stories to her sister, her stuffed animals, anyone who would listen. And both of our them loved to hear them read aloud. They each have their favorite tales, but never squabble about hearing any of them. It was their storytime pick every time. In fact, we checked it out of the library so many times that we finally decided to buy a copy for our own bookshelf.

I like how well written then tales are with respect to their accessibility to young children and faithfulness to the originals. I've tried many different nursery tales collections, none of which really satisfied me. Many of them are too lengthy to hold the attention of young children, while others intended for a young audience are overly simplified so the language loses its charm. These tales are wonderfully told and will hold the attention of young and old alike. Perfect in length for a quick storytime of only one tale, or a longer storytime of several read after each other.

Illustrations appear on every page as well as 1 full-page illustration at the beginning of each tale and another full-page illustration depicting the climax of each tale. The pictures throughout illustrate the action of the story and move it along only in the charming and whimsical way only Mary Engelbreit can. The illustrations really support the text and make it especially easy for non-readers to follow along during read alouds. It is a beautiful and effective marriage of text and illustration, which is so important to children's story books, I think.

My kids cherish it and we are making wonderful memories reading it together.

I love ME's illustrations, and my daughter has enjoyed ME's Mother Goose book, so I thought this book would be good too. I wasn't disappointed in the artwork.

But I was disappointed in the stories. They have been sanitized: the gingerbread man escapes and Hansel and Gretel accidentally got lost.