The Usborne Book of Fairy Tales

View books by Heather Amery.

Perfect to introduce pre-school children to classic fairy tales - Rated
I agree with the earlier reviewers that this book is great. The classic fairy tales (which I always remembered in Ladybird Book format) are too complex for toddlers and pre-school children. But the classic stories are so good you want to start sharing them with your little ones as soon as possible. This book makes it possible.

It contains the well known stories of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and several others. The stories are heavily abridged to make them accessible to toddlers but are still there in essence.

The best feature of all the Usborne series of books is their staging of language. At the top of each page is the simplest possible text summarising what is happening. This is great for 2 year olds with basic language skills. At the bottom of each page, suitable for 3-4 year olds, is a small expansion of the story. In this way this book grows with your child, taking them up to the more grown up and fuller versions of the fairy tales.

Another aspect of the Usborne series that I and my children love is the "hunt the duck" game. Every page of every story incorporates a small yellow duck who your child can search for. This sometimes gets forgotten when my little ones are really engrosed in the story. At times like this we often have to go back through the pages just to look for the duck!

I can heartily recommend this book.

We love this book - Rated
This book is great for 2-4 year olds

The stories are short, simple and beautifully illustrated. I've read this book thousands of times to my daughter who can recite many of them.

If anyone from Usbourne reads this then PLEASE do a sequel of more fairy stories....

A great collection of fairy stories - Rated
This book has been a favourite with all of my children.

The pictures are lovely, and are by the same illustrator as Farmyard Tales.

It's a real treat having a favourite book with so many great stories. All too often the children only like one or two of the stories in a collection.

Recommended for 2 year olds who will sit still, but better still for those closer to 4!