Customer Reviews
Great introduction to Fairy Stories - By: Anne and Dan, 10 Aug 2008 
I have twin girls. One adores this book for the beautiful stories & illustrations & the other who normally runs riot during story time cant get enough of duck spotting! Sounds strange but I take my hat off to the person who thought of hiding a little yellow duck on every page. AT last there is peace at story time & their ability to find socks, toys etc has improved too! I acquired this book second hand but would happily pay full price for another copy should our current one endin tatters.
Absolute family favorite - By: A. Radeck, 09 Jul 2008 I bought this book when my eldest was 2 to introduce him to fairy tales. I had tried reading him some of my old fairy tale books, but the language was simply too difficult, the stories too long & the pictures too complex (as was the style then, I suppose). So I ordered this book & it was a hit from day 1.
It contains the classic childhood fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella etc. & tells themin a very summarised form. The more touchy issues are left out or skimmed over (e.g. the wolf falls through the chimney into the 3 pigs' pot of boiling water, then the pigs are shown eating soup saying they will live together) & the sentences are kept simple & understandable. They are even printed big enough for early-readers & indeed it was the first book my eldest started reading.
Each page (i.e. each sentence or two) is accompanied by a lovely colourful & yet simple picture which the kids love to use to point out the things I am reading to them. About 5-6 pages make up a story, which is the perfect match to a 2-year-old's attention span, & as the children get older, you can even read the whole book without overdoing the bed-time reading time slot.
This book has accompanied us whereever we go for over 2 years now, & although it is often & ungently fought over by my boys, is stillin good shape. 5 stars on all fronts for this one.
Perfect to introduce pre-school children to classic fairy tales - By: Dr. H. Payne, 09 Nov 2007 I agree with the earlier reviewers that this book is great. The classic fairy tales (which I always rememberedin Ladybird Book format) are too complex for toddlers & pre-school children. But the classic stories are so good you want to start sharing them with your little ones as soon as possible. This book makes it possible.
It contains the well known stories of Goldilocks & the Three Bears, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood & several others. The stories are heavily abridged to make them accessible to toddlers but are still therein essence.
The best feature of all the Usborne series of books is their staging of language. At the top of each page is the simplest possible text summarising what is happening. This is great for 2 year olds with basic language skills. At the bottom of each page, suitable for 3-4 year olds, is a small expansion of the story. In this way this book grows with your child, taking them up to the more grown up & fuller versions of the fairy tales.
Another aspect of the Usborne series that I & my children love is the "hunt the duck" game. Every page of every story incorporates a small yellow duck who your child can search for. This sometimes gets forgotten when my little ones are really engrosedin the story. At times like this we often have to go back through the pages just to look for the duck!
I can heartily recommend this book.
We love this book - By: C. Tyrell, 20 Nov 2006 This book is great for 2-4 year olds
The stories are short, simple & beautifully illustrated. I've read this book thousands of times to my daughter who can recite many of them.
If anyone from Usbourne reads this then PLEASE do a sequel of more fairy stories....
A great collection of fairy stories - By: 5 minutespeace, 14 Oct 2005 This book has been a favourite with all of my children.
The pictures are lovely, & are by the same illustrator as Farmyard Tales.
It's a real treat having a favourite book with so many great stories. All too often the children only like one or two of the storiesin a collection.
Recommended for 2 year olds who will sit still, but better still for those closer to 4!
