The Barefoot Book of Fairy Tales

by Malachy Doyle, Nicoletta Ceccoli (Illustrator)

Journey to magical and memorable lands with this long-awaited anthology of classic fairy tales from nine different countries and cultures. Including such favorites as Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as lesser-known stories like the Ukrainian tale The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, this collection is masterfully told by Malachy Doyle and illustrated in Nicoletta Ceccoli s always charming and thoroughly enchanting style.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2005

About the author

Malachy Doyle is the author of Antonio on the Other Side of the World, Getting Smaller and many other books for children. He lives in Donegal, Ireland.

Reviews

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the stories, this is a 3.5 or even 4 star book. But the illustrations, done by Nicoletta Ceccoli (whose work I usually really enjoy) were very off-putting for me here and did nothing to enhance my enjoyment of this collection, but in fact hindered it. That is a very personal reaction to the art, but it is inseparable from the book and thus brought down the rating somewhat.

Twelve Dancing Princesses (The Dancing Shoes) - Germany

The Girl Who Became a Fish - Spain/ Catalan

Hansel and Gretel (Le Ptit Poucet) - French/German

Cinderella (Yeh-hsien) - China/ various

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship - Ukrainia

Rumplestiltskin - Various

The Sleeping Beauty - Germany/Grimm version

The Jeweled Sea - China

The Celestial Sisters - Native American Shawnee

The Magic Ball - Argentina

Snow-White and Rose-Red - Germany/Grimm version

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves - Arabia/Persia/India, etc.

It is a very nice starter book of fairytales for children, well-told and with a ribbon to keep your place. Again, the only drawback for me, was the illustrations.

[Lee Huntington · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like most Barefoot Books, even those that I don't love every selection, but so far this is one of my favorites. It seems to have a very solid selection of tales. And it would make it into that group of BF Books I will own at home.

[Zenida Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was super cool in how it had fairy tales from around the world. I also liked how the book contained tales that I did not grow up reading, so some of the stories were completely new to me.

[Momofmaggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a baeutiful book...

[Hag of the Dribble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic illustrations!

[Rebecca L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!
I've always loved fairytales, and this book was so colorful and fun! Some different tellings of popular fairytales and in the back a history of each fairytale and where they came from!

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this version because it was clearly adapted for children. The language is a lot simpler and there are illustrations. The illustrations are a bit odd; I’m not a huge fan of the style. To be completely honest, I can tell these illustrations are supposed to be cute and appealing to children, but I just find them to be rather creepy. In this version of the tale, Rumpelstiltskin has a tail, which certainly establishes him as a devil-like goblin creature. It also makes it work better for kids. Because this is the children’s version, there are distinct differences in the plot. For instance, instead of dying in the morning if she does not spin straw into gold, the miller’s daughter is simply told she will be, “in trouble. Big trouble!” I read several version of this tale that features Rumpelstiltskin singing a little ditty while he spins. That is not in this version, which I thought was odd being it’s a version that is clearly adapted for younger readers. I did like the ending of this version because Rumpelstiltskin disappears in a flash of light. I read another children’s version where he is simply made fun of and leaves the court in disgrace. I really prefer when he is destroyed at the end of the tale, but I’ll take him dissipating as well. I liked this version but I didn’t love it. It is missing the references to the bible, and the names she miller’s daughter guesses are rather Westernized, as she guesses “Jim” and “Peter.”

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of those were unexpectedly dark!

[Mickey Bits · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent art. Familiar stories.

[Ashten Wolff]

Read the story about sleeping beauty and the jeweled sea.