Tomie dePaola's Favorite Nursery Tales

by Tomie dePaola

The artist selects a host of popular fairy tales and folk stories by Andersen, Grimm, Jacobs, and others

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Nonfiction, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[Julia Levine]

Title (italicize): Tomie de Paola's Favorite Nursery Tales
Author: Tomie de Paola
Illustrator (if separate from author): Tomie de Paola
Genre: Theme(s): Nursery Rhymes
Opening line/sentence (type directly from text): "How am I to sing your praise, Happy Chimney-corner days, Sitting safe in nursery nooks, Reading picture story-books."
Brief Book Summary (2-3 sentences in your own words): Tomie de Paola's Favorite Nursery Tales tells the stories of 30 of the most famous children's nursery tales with classics such as The Frog Prince and Rumpelstiltskin. This book is a great story-telling book perfect for reading before bedtime. Tomie de Paola's Favorite Nursery Tales captures childhood's lost stories that adults may forget every detail to and allows children to relive the same stories that their parents grew up listening to.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1 (cut & paste):
Copyright 2012, Kirkus Reviews. All rights reserved.
"This collection of favorite stories for the youngest appears as a companion to the author/illustrator's Mother Goose, which was published last year. Liberally padded with Aesop, it contains most of the expected stories: "Little Red Hen," "The Three Bears," and so forth. Also included are a few familiar verses from Stevenson and Longfellow. The retellings are the most nonviolent possible, while retaining fidelity to the story (the troll in "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" is tossed into the water, for example), which should satisfy parents, if not purists. The prose style usefully takes the stories from beginning to end in a straightforward manner, with few pauses for interesting language or description along the way. DePaola's brightly colored illustrations liberally decorate the pages and suit the nature of the text, both in their pragmatic carrying out of story themes and their lack of distinction. Enormously useful as a gift book and as an added collection for libraries. For memorable storytelling, however, it will never replace the collections done by Rockwell and Rojankovsky."
Professional Recommendation/Review #2 (cut & paste):
"PreS-GR4-Like a good winter coat in a large family, this anthology can be passed along to many children. The smallest can listen to "The Three Bears," the middle-sized ones will puzzle out "Rumpelstiltskin." Jacobs, Andersen, and Grimm account for most of the selections, and there are a few poems, too. The only off note is Longfellow's "The Children's Hour," which is so much more sentimental than the other selections. Fans of Rojankovky's Tall Book of Nursery Tales (Harper, 1944) and of Anne Rockwell's The Three Bears and Fifteen Other stories (Crowell, 1975) are sure to love this one. DePaola's droll, witty, and very funny illustrations capture the essence of each story from a child's point of view. It's unlikely that any adult will get away with reading just one of these selections for a bedtime story. The cover and title page show a child reading aloud to an attentive audience and are an immediate reminder that this book is for sharing. The beautiful layout of these pages, in which the print and pictures are perfectly at ease with one another, invites confident new readers as well as adults for reading aloud. A fine Companion volume to Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose (Putnam, 1985). –Anna Biagioni Hart, Sherwood Regional Library, Alexandria, Va."
Response to Two Professional Reviews (3-4 sentences in your own words):
The first professional review describes very well the different elements that Tommie dePaola does so well when writing this book full of nursery rhymes. Without giving away too much of the actual stories inside this nursery book, the first review captures the audience and leaves us wanting to look in the book for ourselves. The second review mentions a few of the more well-known stories in this book and even brings to light the illustrations within this book.
Evaluation of Literary Elements (3-4 sentences in your own words):
This book makes use of many different literary elements because of the vast range of stories ranging from rhyming lines to descriptive stories depicting some of the most famous nursery rhymes. The many plots in this book of nursery tales are well developed and easy for children to follow. My only digression about this book is the lack of creativity in the illustrations as they are uncreative and very literal.
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words):
This book is probably most applicable in a 2nd or 3rd grade classroom because since the stories are very short and well known to most children, it would be easy for younger children to follow along. At the same time, this book has some tricky words that would be a challenge to the older 3rd graders. In thinking of an activity to incorporate along with this book, I could set up discussion groups between students and assign a role to each student to tell the other students what each nursery tale was about.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Features several nursery tales accompanied by illustrations by Tomie dePaola. Some are very familiar like "The Three Little Pigs” and “Rumpelstiltskin." Others are more obscure like "The Straw Ox” and “Master of All Masters.” dePaola's illustrations are beautifully done and enhance the tales. A lovely collection.

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

great collection

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very nice collection of nursery rhymes and stories. I enjoyed seeing dePaola's illustrations alongside these classics. I particularly like his animal drawings.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

To go with dePaola's art, there are fairy tales, fables, and a few poems. The fairy tales are pitched for small kids. For example, the wolf doesn't eat the 3 little pigs, and he doesn't get boiled. (Sorry, was that a spoiler?) This is perfect for my 3-year-old who is ready for a story with a real narrative arc, but still needs a picture on every page.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not like this book's "updated" nursery tales. Yuck.

[Fibersian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course we need nursery rhyme books. Celebrate the rhythm and history of the culture of expressing our world with words.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm wondering how some of those stories became DePaola's favorites...some were a bit pointless. But overall it is a great book. This kids enjoyed reading a story every day.

[Leila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomie de Paola knocks it outta the ballpark again.