Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Classic Fairy Tales [Hardcover]

Brothers Grimm (Author), Kevin Tong (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: December 20, 2011

This beautifully illustrated collection of 30 tales from far and wide includes...

• Snow White
• Hansel and Grethel
• Cinderella
• The Frog Prince
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Bremen Town Musicians
• The Elves
• Little Red Cap
• The Fisherman and His Wife
• The Sleeping Beauty
• Tom Thumb
• Rapunzel. . . and many more.

“Once upon a time . . .”

Four simple words that, after more than two centuries, still have the ability to transport readers to lands of mystery, intrigue, and betrayal, life and death, love and abandon. Timeless are the tales of the Brothers Grimm who, in an effort to preserve native folklore, unwittingly crafted a cornerstone of Western literature.

With this book of fairy tales, beautifully illustrated by artist Kevin Tong, reacquaint yourself with the stories and characters you know and love. Run through the forest with Little Red Cap. Attend the ball with Cinderella. Eat an apple with Snow White. From witches to fairies, evil queens to kindly kings, frog princes and sleeping beauties, the Grimm tales are classics that are truly meant to be shared with young and old alike.

With a foreword written by the creators of ABC’s show Once Upon a Time, we see that these classic tales continue to endure and inspire more storytelling. The series brings some of these classic characters to life in a bold reimagination of the fairy tale world.

We invite you to reacquaint yourself with these magical stories and be transported once again with Once Upon a Time.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (December 20, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401324630
• ISBN-13: 978-1401324636
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classically done Classic Fairy Tales - FINALLY January 28, 2012

By foxfire1013

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Kudos for bringing together the ORIGINAL classics without pandering to the "ooooh this is too Sordid" crowd. When I was young some 60 years ago, I read the originals. This book has the versions I read so long ago.....not waterered-down alternatives some academic might think more appropriate because it might "hurt the children" if they read something where bad guys win and good guys loose.

Being an adherent of the TV show with the same name as this book I can only state that my Kindle Fire downloads each new episode Monday morning, thanks to a Season Pass. Rumpelstiltskin was not a bad guy in the original fairy tale. The boasting father, the greedy king, the daughter who made a deal (understanding the terms) and reneged were the very beautiful bad guys who cheated and won, IMHO. I'm with Team Rumpel/Gold as far as this show goes.

I do think this book might contain clues for viewers of the TV show, as to "How far they [the writers] are willing to go"

51 of 69 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Dissappointed. December 23, 2011

By linrick

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a person who like to actually holding a book to read. I haven't read it yet but did skimmed thru. This book contains typical Grimm's tales that are written very short. I love the ABC's Once Upon a Time show so I blindly pre-order this book even tho at the time, Amazon didn't have any description with which tales, the order of the tales or what kind of illustrated pics will be inside. After getting the book, I was so dissappointed. Come back here to write my review and noticed Amazon finally loaded pictures of the inside contents and a little more detail description. It is not beautifully illustrated as described. And the few illustrated, they are in black against the white pages. I was assuming this book will be illustrated with colors and at least one illustration for each tale. It's not a collector's book by all means so I strongly don't recommend you buying, especially if you like to collect well illustrated books or read from an actual book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book for any "Once Upon A Time" fan. January 1, 2012

By Eric Bramlett

Format:Hardcover

This book may not have some of the things you wanted in a story book but it does have some fascinating incite of some of the fairy tales that are seen on the hit show. Also does have a foreword from the creators of the show which is also interesting. I got this book on Christmas Day and I was so excited that I got it as I was about to order it before Christmas myself but I am glad I waited. I also got this other book for Christmas and it would be great for anyone who is looking for more then what this particular book has in it. The book is titled Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics). It is a wonderful book for anyone who enjoys the storytelling of these amazing fairy tale stories. It is just 18 dollars as well but I also still recommend this book on here as well and for the price it isn't too bad. I hope this review will make everyone have a more interest in it. I really recommend this book if you are a big fan of the show Once Upon A Time.

This book I recommend if you are not into this book but are still a fan of the series.
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics Series)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars POOR DESCRIPTION February 20, 2013

By Anne Hogan

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book is described as "Beautifully Illustrated". Not only are there very few illustrations, but they are b/w & very simple. The other problem is the size of the book - 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 - not much larger than a paperback, though it is hardcover. I agree with an earlier review that this should just be listed as a Grimm's fairy tale book & not connected with the tv show. The glimpses I got of the book on the show had better illustrations than this book, as well as being a large book. Big disappointment!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Should be called Grimm Fairy Tales December 14, 2012

By fatima

Format:Hardcover

I personally am a big Once Upon a Time fan, so when I saw this book I expected it to have the stories of some of the characters on the ABC network instead of the actual Grimm brothers fairy tales. Don't get me wrong, I knew on some level that they couldn't add characters like Snow White, since the show hasn't shown everything in her back story, but I expected characters like Cinderella and maybe the Mad Hatter, since their basic story has been covered. I am also a fan of the original Grimm tales so I could get past it having nothing to do with the show Once Upon a Time. I did expect more art work, as well as it to look somewhat like the artwork on the show in Henry's book since the description did make sure to point the "beautiful illustrations" they are nice to look at and the artist is good, but I guess I just got my hopes up some.

It is written in classic Grimm brothers form, so if you find it hard to read what I consider old English this just isn't for you. There are better Grimm books out there with more than the 30 stories included with this one, and if you have a Kindle you can get some of them for free. I ended up not wasting my money on this one (saw it at Walmart for about $10), since to me at least it felt like ABC was just trying to capitalize on the popularity of the show.

For the people out there who haven't read the original Grimm tales I strongly suggest you don't go out and buy it for a child until you do, these are darker than the fluff Disney made out of them. My sisters (8 and 12) like these stories, but I still will not allow them to read the Sleeping Beauty one for example, because it deals with rape and incest (seriously)....

Over all I give this two stars because if a person was blindly buying this book because it is connected to ABC's Once Upon A Time they may be upset when they get a hold of this book especally if it was intended as a gift for a child. Throw in the lack of "beautiful illustrations" and that's $10 you can put towards something else. Read more ›