Mary Engelbreit's Fairy Tales: Twelve Timeless Treasures – A Beautifully Illustrated Collection About Beloved Princesses for Kids

Hardcover Read-alouds

by Mary Engelbreit

With twelve beloved stories meant for reading aloud and more than one hundred glorious illustrations, Mary Engelbreit's Fairy Tales is destined to become a family favorite!

Every turn of the page brings fresh delight as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid, and others come to life as only Mary Engelbreit could have imagined them.

Images of Rapunzel alone in her tower, Cinderella’s pumpkin becoming a golden carriage, and Thumbelina's search for a home are unforgettable.

Richly sparkling art in splendid colors, warm humor, and all of the charm found in Mary Engelbreit's Fairy Tales make it a treasure with immediate appeal and long-lasting value. You’ll want to share it with those you love.

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Fantasy

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2009

About the author

Mary Engelbreit grew up studying the illustrations in the vintage storybooks of her mother’s childhood, and she developed a unique style that harkens back to those simpler times. Mary’s distinctive images have made her a celebrity to millions, who eagerly snap up gift items, calendars, books, fabrics, and more.

Mary’s New York Times bestselling The Night Before Christmas is part of the holiday tradition for families across the country. Other beloved additions to a child’s first bookshelf are her New York Times bestselling Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose and Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales, which are perfect companions to this volume.

Reviews

[Marlene]

Fairy Tales: Twelve Timeless Treasures by Mary Engelbreit is just delightful. I read these to my 2 and 4 year old daughters during story time after lunch, and they love the illustrations just as much as I do. Every day, they wanted to see what the following day's story would be and to discuss which characters they could see on the front and back covers. I'm really in love with these illustrations, and loved the "just right" length of each story as well as the details included in it. When my kids grow older, this book will be a keeper.

FYI, this is a large hardcover book, on the order of the big Richard Scarry books.

[Rachel Groeschen]

I just read Beauty and THe Beast and Rapunzel. They were average

[Chrissi Guarnieri]

Mary Englebreit's rendition of The Princess and the Pea is endearing both in storyline and illustrations. The story had good flow, the characters were more developed than other versions of this story, and the illustrations are bright.

[Abby]

I haven’t read this in years. It’s a little abbreviated but it is for younger kids. ‘The Little Mermaid’ ending is different then others but less implausible then... well, mermaids. The artwork is absolutely beautiful. All in all, it’s a wonderful collection of fairy tales to read to your younger sibling/cousin/child.

[Cyndy]

These are not quite the fairy tales of our outh. Mary Engelbreit decided that a prince might not be the answer to all of our dreams, so she added interesting, yet subtle changes to the stories. Stories included are Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Frog Prince, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, Rapunzel, Thumbelina, Snow White and Rose Red, Rumpelstiltskin, and Sleeping Beauty.

[Katie Merkel]

These short, beautifully illustrated retellings are a nice way to introduce children to these timeless classics.

[ThePinkCarrot]

Such gorgeous illustrations! Beautiful saturated color.
This is a great book for younger kids--the language is simple and easy to understand.

[Scarlett Mirano]

Originals are better

[Mo]

Why do we continue to tell some of these fairy tales? Morals? Tradition? And they all get told slightly differently depending on who's telling them.

[Margaret Chind]

Oh I just about jumped the UPS guy when he brought this to me today! I have fallen in love with Mary Engelbreit through her Mother Goose book and then when I found out that she had a Fairy Tales book coming out! Oh my! This Christmas our big book purchase was Mary Engelbreit's The Night Before Christmas and since we brought it home from Barnes & Noble we have read it every day. AppleBlossom loves to point at the pictures while I read the story and I love to describe things to her and name this and that. Mary Engelbriet's Fairy Tales contains 12 of my favorite and well known stories including Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, The Frog Prince, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, Rapunzel, Thumbelina, Snow White & the Red Rose, Rumpelstiltskin, and Sleeping Beauty. I have to admit that the second Snow White story is new to me, but it's delightful and I'm beyond ecstatic to share this book with my daughter for years to come. From my childhood I remember reading through the Childcraft Encyclopedia on Fairy Tales over and over again. I hope that this book will bring that kind of joy to my children for years to come. My daughter already loves it and I hope it will fill her with sweet memories and tales.

*Thanks to HarperCollins for providing a copy for review.*

[Becky H.]

This has been so fun to read with my little girl that is crazy about princesses. They are beautifully illustrated. I like that the stories don't follow Disney's storyline but rather the more traditional versions. But still keeping the story short enough for a younger child to not loose interest.
We enjoy reading a story each night. When I told her it was time to take it back to the library she begged for us to check it out again.
Includes:
Cinderella -- Beauty and the beast -- Aladdin -- Snow White and the seven dwarfs -- The frog prince -- The little mermaid -- The princess and the pea -- Rapunzel -- Thumbelina -- Snow White and Rose Red -- Rumpelstiltskin -- Sleeping Beauty.

[Elizabeth]

This is a very sweet collection of fairy tales for children. The illustrations are quite cute and enchanting. The negative for me is that the stories are quite condensed and simplified for little kids. I know it should be expected for a childrens book of fairy tales, but when the beloved fable ended in a picnic or a game of catch, etc. while I inwardly cringed. Despite that, it's the little girls and boys that matter and I feel they will enjoy this book. I'd recommend these treasures for the adorable artwork and its darling approach to the classic fairy tales.

[Tiara Patterson]

For this week, instead of reading multiple books, I just read multiple fairy tales in this book. The fairy tales I read were Cinderelle, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladin. Reading these fairy tales reminded me of the days when I was younger and fairy godmothers can come out of nowhere. They usually have a theme associated with them along with the imagination of young minds. One thing I liked about how Engelbreit told the stories was the illistrations that went with it as well as the way the story was told.

[Wendy Lawrence]

Perfect introduction for toddlers. Not edited beyond recognition, not too violent, but nice, complete stories. I only wish that the illustrations had tried harder to make the stories more clear to the kids--at times they seem more decorative than purposeful and some of the stories could benefit from illustrations of the action.

[Heather]

As is typical with ME books, the illustrations are wonderful. I also like how she adapts the endings: they all end happily, and don't all end with marriage--which adds more novelty and meaning to the endings (e.g., in the Frog Prince, the prince turns into a playmate the same age as the young princess, and the two are happy being friends). A great introduction to fairy tales for little girls.

[Teri]

Good version of the fairy tales--by 4-year old LOVES it!

[Tanya Wadley]

Nice art... fun fairy tales. The younger kids loved it and couldn't wait to read from it every day.

[Layla]

The illustrations are cute and magical. My daughter really likes this book.