Rating: 
Summary: Handsome Collection Of Timeless Stories
Review: A superbly designed, very reasonably priced hardcover volume of 26 celebrated fairy tales, Maria Tatar's THE ANNOTATED CLASSIC FAIRY TALES takes a somewhat scholarly glance at these familiar short works. For each story, Tartar provides a brief but informative introduction that concisely discusses the genesis of the tale before exploring historical/cultural intricacies of the text, all written in an erudite but easily accessible manner. Many of the stories here are presented in fresh new translations by Tatar herself, sporting numerous lush and beautiful illustrations taken from a variety of sources. Its a welcome and entertaining volume, but it must be noted that THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT by Bruno Bettelheim examines many of these same tales with far more depth, insight and enthusiasm. Tatar's notes are surprisingly sparse and offer very little real critical analyses of the tales at hand, especially in comparison to such copiously annotated and richly enlightening similar works like THE ANNOTATED MOTHER GOOSE by William & Ceil Baring-Gould or THE ANNOTATED ALICE by Martin Gardner. Nonetheless, this comes highly recommended as a great collection of definitive versions of some of the most beloved fairy tales, accompanied by over 300 often stunning illustrations.
Rating:
Summary: Handsome Collection Of Timeless Stories
Review: A superbly designed, very reasonably priced hardcover volume of 26 celebrated fairy tales, Maria Tatar's THE ANNOTATED CLASSIC FAIRY TALES takes a somewhat scholarly glance at these familiar short works. For each story, Tartar provides a brief but informative introduction that concisely discusses the genesis of the tale before exploring historical/cultural intricacies of the text, all written in an erudite but easily accessible manner. Many of the stories here are presented in fresh new translations by Tatar herself, sporting numerous lush and beautiful illustrations taken from a variety of sources. Its a welcome and entertaining volume, but it must be noted that THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT by Bruno Bettelheim examines many of these same tales with far more depth, insight and enthusiasm. Tatar's notes are surprisingly sparse and offer very little real critical analyses of the tales at hand, especially in comparison to such copiously annotated and richly enlightening similar works like THE ANNOTATED MOTHER GOOSE by William & Ceil Baring-Gould or THE ANNOTATED ALICE by Martin Gardner. Nonetheless, this comes highly recommended as a great collection of definitive versions of some of the most beloved fairy tales, accompanied by over 300 often stunning illustrations.
Rating: 
Summary: A new classic
Review: A thoroughly delightful book! Ms Tatar retells many classic tales with wit and insight that injects these familiar stories with new life. Beautifully illustrated as well, although many of the illustrations were rather small to see in detail. Made me want to read more of Tatar's critical work. There's so much cultural and historical aspects to these enduring stories!
Rating:
Summary: Utterly Delightful
Review: I am always fascinated by annotations of classic works because of the insights I gain from them. The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales is especially interesting because the works Maria Tatar includes are familiar (at least most of them are) but, her notes reveal, have a much deeper and sometimes darker history than we thought. The book includes some universal favorites like The Emperor's New Clothes and Cinderella and some less known but interesting stories like Molly Whuppie and The Juniper Tree. Each story has a great variety of classic illustrations from masters like Cruikshank and Dore. Another nice touch are the biographies of some of the authors and illustrators included at the end. Whether you are a child, have a child, or are a child at heart, you will love this collection.
Rating:
Summary: the annotated classic fairy tales
Review: I found this to be a wonderful book to use with my children and it is a great bargain with all the fabulous illustrations that are included in this work. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book. I love the variant tellings of the fairy tales and is a great concept to have the children to whom you are reading use their imagination as well. I think I actually enjoy reading this as much as the children.
Rating:
Summary: great collection, commentary, illustrations
Review: I got this for my two daughters, but ended up reading it as soon as it arrived. Unlike most collections of fairy tales, which get pretty boring after the third or fourth story, this one drew you in. Commentary is very down-to-earth here, telling you about historical context, other versions, and interesting tidbits. Wish the illustrations were larger because sometimes you can't see detail.
Rating:
Summary: great collection, commentary, illustrations
Review: I got this for my two daughters, but ended up reading it as soon as it arrived. Unlike most collections of fairy tales, which get pretty boring after the third or fourth story, this one drew you in. Commentary is very down-to-earth here, telling you about historical context, other versions, and interesting tidbits. Wish the illustrations were larger because sometimes you can't see detail.
Rating:
Summary: Positively Wonderful
Review: I loved this volume. It's great to know about all the different versions of fairy tales, and I especially liked the user-friendly format which lets you read the stories and savor the illustrations, along with the commentary, which is just right. I learned a lot from the introductions to each story, and I am reading some of these to my nephew, who adored "The Emperor's New Clothes," and even though he is six, he wanted to read the commentary!
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Bedtime Reading
Review: I loved this volume. It's great to know about all the different versions of fairy tales, and I especially liked the user-friendly format which lets you read the stories and savor the illustrations, along with the commentary, which is just right. I learned a lot from the introductions to each story, and I am reading some of these to my nephew, who adored "The Emperor's New Clothes," and even though he is six, he wanted to read the commentary!
Rating:
Summary: The Fairy Tale Riddle
Review: This is a beautifully illustrated book. That has a lot of excellent background information on popular fairy tales. Fairy Tales are now mostly regarded as stories for children. When the truth of the stories, are much more fascinating.
Then one would think.
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