Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: New English Version

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version. Philip Pullman. 2012. Penguin. 400 pages.

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version is a collection of fifty fairy tales. I was familiar with almost half of these, though it had probably been two decades since I last read some of them. Half of the stories were completely new to me. I probably found a few new favorites. At the conclusion of each story, Pullman shares facts, details, and opinions on the story. He tells us the type of story it is, what other tales are similar, what other cultures this type of story can be found in, what changes he made and why, what changes he would have made but didn't because he wasn't trying to write a novel, what he really thinks of each story. I found these sections to be interesting. Of course, I enjoyed the fairy tales. Some stories better than others, of course, a handful I could have done without completely. Still, I found the collection as a whole to be quite fun! The kind of book that you can read a story or two a day for several weeks of entertainment. This is NOT a book to rush through. Reading two or three fairy tales in a day is great, reading thirty a day, well, it's just TOO MUCH. You may not love, love, love each and every story in the collection. You may not find all of them to be equally worthy of your time. But. Chances are you'll find something to enjoy!

• The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich
• The Cat and the Mouse Set Up House
• The Boy Who Left Home To Find Out About the Shivers
• Faithful Johannes
• The Twelve Brothers
• Little Brother and Little Sister
• Rapunzel
• The Three Little Men in the Woods
• Hansel and Gretel
• The Three Snake Leaves
• The Fisherman and His Wife
• The Brave Little Tailor
• Cinderella
• The Riddle
• The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Musicians of Bremen
• The Singing Bone
• The Devil with Three Golden Hairs
• The Girl with No Hands
• The Elves
• The Robber Bridegroom
• Godfather Death
• The Juniper Tree
• Briar Rose [Sleeping Beauty]
• Snow White
• Rumpelstiltskin
• The Golden Bird
• Farmerkin
• Thousandfurs
• Jorinda and Joringel
• Six Who Made Their Way in the World
• Gambling Hans
• The Singing, Springing Lark
• The Goose Girl
• Bearskin
• The Two Traveling Companions
• Hans-my-Hedgehog
• The Little Shroud
• The Stolen Pennies
• The Donkey Cabbage
• One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes
• The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces [Twelve Dancing Princesses]
• Iron Hans
• Mount Simeli
• Lazy Heinz
• Strong Hans
• The Moon
• The Goose Girl at the Spring
• The Nixie of the Millpond

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews