The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales

by Alice Provensen (Editor), Martin Provensen (Editor), Henry Beston (Contributor)

Alice and Martin Provensen were one of the most talented husband-and-wife author-illustrator teams of the twentieth century. A cult classic, The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales is an early golden treasury of their illustrations accompanied by fairy tales from well-loved authors such as A. A. Milne and Hans Christian Andersen to literary legends like Oscar Wilde. Here too are clever retellings and newly imagined tales: refined old favorites like Arthur Rackham's "Beauty and the Beast," feminist revisions like Elinor Mordaunt's "The Prince and the Goose Girl," and sensitive stories by literary stylists like Henry Beston's "The Lost Half-Hour" and Katharine Pyle's "The Dreamer." Full of magic, ingenuity, and humor, The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales is a witty modern descendant of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and a classic in its own right, sure to be beloved by a new generation.

Genres: Fairy Tales, Childrens, Picture Books, Short Stories, Fantasy, Classics

140 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1971

About the author

Alice Provensen collaborated with her late husband, Martin, on numerous highly acclaimed picture books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning The Glorious Flight and Nancy Willard's Newbery Medal-winning A Visit to William Blake's Inn, which was also a Caldecott Honor Book. The Provensens have been on the New York Times list of the Ten Best Illustrated Books eight times.

Reviews

[Skip · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was not a great fan of Alice Provensen's illustrations, which at some basic level, may be the intended purpose of this book (collection of fairy tales), I enjoyed the underlying stories. The common theme was that goodness is rewarded, which sadly it seems is often relegated to fairy tales when real life should work this way too.

[Gabriela Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some books that are guaranteed to make lifelong readers out of children, when put into their hands during their precious, impressionable period. It's not enough that these books feature colorful illustrations. They need to have magical words inside as well, that lend themselves well to read-alouds with Mommy dearest before bedtime. This beautiful book is one of them!

It's pure gorgeousness, from cover to back. The table of contents alone is a work of art unto itself! Featuring 12 literary fairy tales ("consciously created works of literature" as opposed to folk fairy tales) compiled and illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, it is a feast for the senses that I drew out for as long as possible.

I found it interesting that I only knew 2 of the dozen fairy tales (The Happy Prince and Beauty and the Beast). Adults will enjoy this as well!

The illustrations by the Provensens are unique. While not beautiful in the traditional sense, they do have a strange magic about them, managing that strange mix of interesting and child-like. They remind me somewhat of the approach of Roald Dahl's illustrator, Quentin Blake. I think that, when children see these imperfect drawings, they are inspired in turn to draw scenes from the books, and are filled with confidence in their own nascent artistic skills instead of being overcome by doubt after seeing immaculate, perfect drawings in their story book.

It's interesting to read these fairy tales as an adult, because we get to see what values previous generations thought worthy of immortalizing in literature. Honesty, self-sacrifice, integrity... it would do the adult population of the world good to go back to our literary roots and be reminded that once upon a time, we believed that good would triumph over evil. May we never stop believing, still.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this book! I would read 1-2 stories before bed sometimes and they were mostly stories I’d never heard before, which was a delight! Took me much longer to read than anticipated because there were a lot of stories.

The foreword, explaining literary fairy tales vs folk fairy tales was informative and enlightening. Folk tales are passed down verbally and are thus prone to evolving over time. Literary fairy tales are written down and a specifically recorded rendition, often borrowing from folk tales. The existence of both means that there often exist many versions of the same story so the ones in this book could be somewhat familiar and also completely different than you may have heard in the past.

My favorite stories:
- The Happy Prince (spoiler: he actually was quite sad but the love story btwn him and his City and him and the swallow is beautiful)
- The Seven Simons (how creative and stackable!)
- The Lost Half-Hour (had a crack at retelling this myself and turning literary back into folk fairy tale!)
- Feather o’ my wing (I think this would be fun to tell around a campfire, repetitive and funny in some ways)
- The Three Wishes (good lesson without any horribleness)
~The Dreamer (not my fav but gets an honorable mention)

Note: I originally picked this up because I’m a big fan of the artists Martin & Alice Provensen, who illustrated this collection, but I stayed for the storytelling. There were some specific spreads I liked but this book is not my favorite of the Provensen’s art.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice and Martin Provensen began their careers as animators for Walter Lantz Studio during WWII before beginning a series of collaborations in which they illustrated existing stories. This collection brings together re-tellings of anonymous folk tales by such writers as Hans Christian Andersen, Oscar Wilde, A. A. Milne and others. The stories are briskly paced (but not necessarily short for young readers) with surprise twists, and the illustrations require the stories be read to be understood. Grandparents may recognize stylistic similarities between these illustrations and some of the animated cartoons they may have watched growing up.

The stories depict an enchanted world that rewards industrious labor, practical skills, and unwavering honesty. An overarching moral might be added: Avoid pre-judging strangers based on only their appearance. But because the original version of this book was published in the early 1970s—spoiler alert!—its young women, while not passive, might be read today merely as agents of their own oppression, even though the better male characters, too, consistently put the needs of others above themselves and feel pretty good about it as a result.

[Bernard Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in this book are written following the classic style. Three sisters where the youngest is always the most loved, or two brothers where one is centred on himself and the other is helpful to people without any thoughts for himself.

But these are wonderfully crafted with rich illustrations. The final story of The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde is lovely and always moves me to tears.

I think this would be a great set of stories to read to young children, say 5 to 8 years old. I loved them.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun collection of (mostly new) fairy tales. As a compiled collection, some entires are stronger than others, but all of them have this rambunctious energy to them that’s quite unique. The Provensen’s art is weird—not exactly splendid, but richly textured and slightly grotesque. All together, it creates the impression that when entering this book you are entering a foreign and topsy-turvy land. Splendid, and many of these stories are ones I’d love to read aloud someday.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely retelling of fairy tales with great, whimsical illustrations. Especially enjoyed The Three Wishes, The Lost Half Hour and Oscar Wildes The Happy Prince which makes me cry but is a favorite fairy tale.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as crazy about the illustrations as I usually am from this husband-wife team but the collection of fairy tales is wonderful.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully kitschy illustrations and stories by both Howard Pyle and his sister Katherine, who never gets enough love.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a read aloud for a five year old, this was a bit of a stretch. But since Ben didn’t mind abridging, editing and checking for his understanding with frequency, Isaac loved it.

[Jillian]

Fairy tales are kind of silly when you think about them. I always love how they end happily. I love the Provensen’s illustrations too, which is the whole reason I picked up the book.

[Genna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was neat! I like reading stories I haven't heard a million times before.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairy tales forever!

[Kyrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun collection of fairy tales that cover good triumphing over bad.

[Nadine · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED this!!! ♥️
Favorites: A.A. Milne “ Prince rabbit “, Oscar Wilde “ the happy prince” and Ruth Manning -Sanders “the seven Simmons”

[Deohannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairy tales never fail to touch my heart. They're definitely aren't only for children... ^^

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite storybook from childhood and where I first read The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little inaccessible and old-fashioned writing. Not tons of pics- but the elevated vocab is probably a good thing for reading aloud to kids. Just a mouthful for the reader.