The 20th-Century Children's Book Treasury: Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud

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Summary: Classic stories ruined. Dr. Suess is rolling over.
Review: It was an admirable venture. Take 44 classic children's stories and combine them into one, reasonably priced volume. I bought my copy through BOMC, which raved about it. The description said, "44 classic stories, including the entire text and original illustrations." Well, I can assure you that "entire" only refers to the text. Most of the stories are missing critical illustrations. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is missing 50% of the original art. As is Sneeches, Make Way for Ducklings, Titch, Sylvester and the Magic Pebbble, and MANY more. As I was reading Sylvester and the Magic Pebble to my daughter, we got to the part where a wolf sits on the rock-that-was-Sylvester and howls at the moon. My daughter, who is 6 and has never before heard the story, said, "Dad, where is the picture of the wolf sitting on the rock?" "Good question, honey. I suspect that some pictures were left out to save money." I can appreciate the challenges the publisher faced in trying to take stories that were orginally printed in different shapes and formats and trying to make them fit in one book. In many cases, however, it is a lost cause. If the art wasn't killed, it was shrunk or placed on the wrong page or put in the margin, etc. To be truthful, although I think the book is a dismal failure and can understand why Amazon is selling the book at 50% off, my daughter loves it. BOMC offered to let me return the book and I have declined because of my daughter's protests.

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Summary: A great collection of classics!!!
Review: Every night, we let my daughter pick which books she wants read at bedtime. This one is always picked. The table of contents is thoughtfully designed for parents and includes categories for different age groups. We bought this last year when my daughter was 2. As she gets older, we start adding more and more stories from it to her list of favourites. A great collection!!

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Summary: All of our favorites in one place. Great for travel.
Review: I love the stories that were choosen for this book. I purchased one for a gift, brought it home, looked at it closer and ordered one for my family. I plan on taking it on all of our family vacations. We read to our children every night, and this is a perfect book when you can take only one.

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Summary: Wonderful Book With Great Children's Stories!
Review: This book contains so many stories I loved when I was little and newer ones that I've seen baby-sitting. I just got it two days ago and can't wait to bring it on a baby-sitting trip this weekend - Ainsley and Jack will love it, and they already know many of the stories. I do agree with another reader that it will become problematic to have so many pages smooshed into one, and the littlest children may try to rip the pages. Also, if Ainsley really likes two or three of the stories and just sticks with them, having the rest in the book will make it hard to lug around. Overall, it's an ingenious idea, brings back so many memories, and I am so excited to have found it. I can't wait to read these stories to my own kids! Berenstein Bears in the Spooky Old Tree was one of my favorites when I was young - now I can reread it and many more.

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Summary: Nice but problematic for the youngest kids
Review: While this is a beautiful book and a present that we loved, one does lose something when you can't turn the pages of a book. Our two-year-old loves trains and the Berenstein bears, so he loves Freight Train and the Bears story included in the collection, but he has trouble concentrating on the story when he can look ahead. There's something magical about finding something new on each page for the youngest readers and that sense is lost with this collection. This should improve as he begins to read the older stories that are more text-based.

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Summary: A wonderful collection, an instant hit
Review: This is a fabulous book. Many of the best and most favourite kids' books are included. It is a treat just to page through it, and meet Ferdinand, Madeline, Frances and so many other loved characters. I wish we had had this book when my teenagers were young. I have bought a copy for ny young nephew and niece and already their mother has to read some favourites to them every day...a few times. I did miss Ping though, I guess he got lost...again!

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Summary: Great book, but I miss the original format of these books...
Review: This book certianly brings a lot of wonderful childrens' stories together into one volume. However, in the process many of the beautiful illustrations have been shrunk down (and, if I'm not mistaken, some illustrations from the original books are left out). Leo Leoni's "Swimmy," for instance, has such gorgeous and subtle illustrations, and these are diminished when shrunk down to a few inches. We also lose the "surprise" of turning the page to see the next illustration, as many illustrations are shown together on one page. However, if you want to get all these great kid's stories in one shot, here's your chance. It certainly saves money (and shelf space) over buying them all individually.

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Summary: Precisely what parents are looking for in a bed time book.
Review: We have purchased alot of books over the years but this one has a collection of stories which hold my five year old's attention. The selection, graphics, layout and text are perfect for the parent that reads to a child or children. The pictures a well done and colorful. The print is just right. This is in the top two of the "collection" of story books we have. I highly recommend this text.

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Summary: Great for adults too!
Review: I was fortunate enough to receive this book as a gift from my mother. It brought back great memories from my childhood and now my husband understands what I mean when I say I've had a "No good, horrible, very bad day".

Rating:
Summary: Great book!!
Review: I really enjoy having these classic stories all in one book. The book is is a good size and I like the format. Reading these stories to my two daughters is a pleasure before their bedtime.