The Book of Fairies

by Michael Hague (Illustrator)

A companion to The Book of Dragons contains fairy illustrations as they appeared in a host of children's and fantasy stories, from Andersen's Thumbelina to Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market and James Barrie's Lock-out Time.

Genres: Fantasy, Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Folklore, Fairies

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Michael Hague is renowned as the illustrator of many children's classics, including editions of The Wizard Of Oz, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and The Velveteen Rabbit. He also illustrated The Book of Ghosts, Where Fairies Dance, The Book of Wizards, and The Book of Fairy Poetry as well as wrote and illustrated the graphic novel in The Small. Michael lives with his wife, Kathleen, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that fairy tales are dark, the lightest being the most popular: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast which are my favorites (these are not in the book). This book has the more obscure fairy tales and I personally had only known of Thumbalina from all the stories told in this treasury; I had expected to see the story of Rumpelstiltskin as well but alas, no. I've always felt that Thumbalina is a bit dark even in the movie but the movie is bright enough with the music and the glitter.
But I couldn't believe how dark The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti is and hopefully no one makes a movie out of that story. The Irish stories of the fae are sometimes about years of life that the fae steal from their unsuspected victim or of time differences or travel that kill victims or makes everyone they love die before they do but thankfully this story doesn't have a tragic ending and I think that is why it made it into this book.
There is also a story of wicked little sprites that bother a flower baby; another story about a fair princess, a fair rainbow prince and a wicked fairy witch; another story about a woman that shirks while doing her household duties and is castigated by evil faeries that want her husband as payment; and lastly a story about a Brownie on his way to save his mistress. I enjoyed a short poem about all the good and wicked Fae creatures of the lands.
I enjoyed this faeries Treasury and I must admit that the stories are dark and enchanting.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Juvenile nonfiction, folktales
Format: Print
Plot: Collection of fairy folklore, including Thumbelina, Goblin Market, and more.
Readers advisory:
Review citation: Horn Book Guide 2001
Source: Best Books for Children
Recommended age: 4-8

[lita]

this book should be my birthday present six years ago :(

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting selection of stories and beautiful illustrations.

[Cailyn L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago, this book was what began my interest in fairies; I was lucky enough to recently be gifted a copy. The illustrations were as vivid and beautiful as I remembered. The selection of stories is varied and could have an appeal for a variety of audiences.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun. A nice look at traditional fairy stories.

[Scout Who · Rating 4 out of 5]

the tales were interesting, but the illustrations were amazing!

[Katarina Maric · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illustrated collection of classical fairy-themed fairytales! Very cute! My favorites tales to read were Lock-Out Time, Goblin Market, and The Flower-Babies.

[Sel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una grata sorpresa. Lo encontré por 2€ en una tienda de libros de segunda mano, y me ha acabado encantado por sus ilustraciones y sus historias.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Hague is one of my favorite illustrators. No one illustrates fairy tales better than he does. This is a beautiful book, just 125 pages of glorious color illustrations. There are eight stories:

"Lock-out Time" (Peter Pan) by James Barrie
"Thumbelina" by Hans Christian Andersen
"Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti
"The Flower-Babies" by M. Wallace-Dunlop & M. Rivett-Cranac
"Fairer-than-a-Fairy" by Charlotte-Rose Caumont de la Force
"The Goodwife's Midnight Labors" by Elizabeth Grierson
"The Brownie o' Ferne-Den" by Virginia Haviland
"The Fairies" by William Allingham

I have seen a separate volume of "The Fairies," a poem by William Allingham, but I do not know if it has the same images or not.

This is truly a gorgeous book that can be appreciated by all ages. The stories and Michael Hague's wonderful illustrations never grow old.

I also recommend "Michael Hague's Favourite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales" and "Cinderella and Other Tales from Perrault" illustrated by Michael Hague. He is a prolific illustrator and there are many other books out there.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of fairy stories and poems illustrated by Michael Hague. His artwork is particularly Rackham-esque in this edition, but the main reason I picked it up is because it contains Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market." I once had an opportunity to buy a first edition of "Goblin Market and Other Poems" (published in 1862) but I was a few thousand dollars short of the asking price, which, oddly enough, was a few thousand dollars. This copy will do for now.

[Ehryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Fairies may not be easy to live with, but we don’t want to live without them either. A world without magic and danger would be boring. Stories of fairies remind us how unpredictable and interesting the world really is. And they remind us that we must have times of struggle before we can have happy endings.”

[Little Miss and the Legomeister]

I checked this one out for Little Miss. She wanted some fairy books. I knew it was way too long for her but the pictures are gorgeous. She really enjoys looking through them.

But... there's one picture -of goblins attacking a woman- I kinda wish she hadn't seen that one.