Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Germany

Favorite Fairy Tales #5

by Virginia Haviland, Diane Paterson (Illustrator)

Favorite Fairy Tales Told In Germany includes seven well known tales....
The Frog Prince
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Rapunzel
The Cat and Mouse in Partnership
Rumpelstiltskin
Hansel and Gretel
The Bremen Town Musicians

The Favorite Fairy Tales series was designed for children to read by themselves. The series retells the stories of Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, India, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Japan, Scotland, Norway, Poland, Sweeden, Spain, and Russia.
Some of these stories may seem violent or fantastical to our modern sensibilities, yet they often reflect the deepest yearnings and imaginings of the human mind and heart.

Genres: Fairy Tales, Childrens, Classics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Virginia Haviland was for many years the Director of the Children's Literature Center at the Library of Congress and was also author of more than two dozen books. She was graduated from Cornell University, and for her dedication to children's literature, she was awarded the Regina Medal in 1976.

Reviews

[Peter Wolfley · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can learn a lot about a people by studying their fairy tales. Often times these stories are trying to teach a lesson or pass on a national virtue. Basically all the German ones teach you that the world is a harsh place and you better not mess around.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seven tales from Grimm - some of the biggest hits. The retellings are cleaned up a bit (e.g., Rapunzel), but the biggest problem is the dreadful illustrations. The black-and-white ones have some charm, but the color ones look so amateurish, with no details and rudimentary coloring. There are many Grimm collections that surpass this.

[Samantha Penrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were two stories in this book that I really enjoyed...The Elves and the Shoemaker (which I had heard before) and The Cat and Mouse in Partnership (which was a new one for me).
The Elves and the Shoemaker tells a story of how things should be -- that those who are sucessful shouldnt forget their own humble beginings and should help those less fortunate than themselves.
The Cat and Mouse in Partnership tells a story about how things actualy are -- you may trust in someone, and keep your word to someone, but that someone may just lie to you, steal from you, and in the end, eat you right up!

In The Frog Prince, a selfish princess accepts the help of a frog when she looses her precious golden ball in a well. In exchange for his help she promises to be his companion/friend. After getting her ball back she promplty forgets all about him. Froggy comes a calling and the princess is forced by her father to keep her word to the frog and be his companion. This friendship doesnt last long...the princess hurls him at a wall calling him a "horrid frog"...he turns out to be a prince, and she gets to marry him. They live happily ever after. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the frog prince would be with her after she treated him so cruelly.

[Katie J Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a copy of Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Germany in my Grandma's basement, and borrowed it for "research purposes." They're straightforward retellings (not really retold so much as copied straight from Grimm's), but there's a lot of charm in the illustrations.

Four Stars: This book was really really good and I'll definitely recommend it to people with relevant interests.