When I decided that I would write a book review for every book I read, I did not take into consideration that I would be writing reviews for books that had been written over a hundred years ago.* However, the book I most recently finished is one such book. Published in 1905, Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know is a collection of 24 popular fairy tales. Included in the titles are familiar tales such as, Hansel and Grethel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood.
I preferred the more obscure tales such as The White Cat, in which a white cat is able to marry a prince, and The Light Princess, in which a evil fairy takes the gravity away from her young niece. I enjoyed these and the other more obscure tales more than those I had already experienced. It turns out that Disney has a way of changing everything about the original tale, and after growing up with the Disney version it is hard to love the story in its original format.
I imagine anyone who grew up with the Disney fairy tales will find the more popular tales in this book to be a disappointment; however, it is interesting to find what parts of the story Disney changed and what parts are taken directly from the original story. The allure of Disney is not why I would recommend this book.
I recommend this book because of the fairy tales you have never experienced. These stories manage to take you back to your childhood when a patient parent or grandparent or sibling read to you at bedtime. Stories like “The Light Princess” that still command wonder hundreds of years after they originated are a fine art, and are especially hard to come by. These stories are the reason I recommend this book.
*Because of this book’s age, it is in the public domain. As such, it has a nice price tag. It’s free for anyone willing to download it at the following link:
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