Fairy Tale Comics, edited by Chris Duffy (First Second, 2013) collects a variety of drawing styles and author’s voices into this anthology of 17 different favorite fairy tales. Most of the tales are retellings that young children will be familiar with. A few are more unfamiliar, coming from traditions other than the Brothers Grimm. This

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Ancient Greek and Roman mythology has always fascinated me. First I fell in love with D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. But then, even as a young teenager, I remember reading Mythology by Edith Hamilton, one of the first “pop culture” books that brought Greek mythology into the main stream for the general reader. It’s easy to

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Peek Inside a Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood is an Usborne book board book with a few flaps and peek inside pages. You can see the next scene from the current scene. It is a really nice quality board book and the pictures are lots of fun. My daughter enjoyed the fact that she could see the

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In his note following his picture book, The Grasshopper and the Ants (Little, Brown and Company 2015), Caldecott Medalist Jerry Pinkney says the picture book is intended to be an “homage to nature.” The rich details of the summer and autumn turning in to winter certainly provide an appropriate homage. As with his richly illustrated

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Super Red Riding Hood by Claudia Dávila (Kids Can Press, August 2014) is a twist on the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, with an emphasis on the super powers of Ruby, a girl who has no fear … or does she? With delightful cartoon-like and friendly illustrations, Ruby’s story shows us that sometimes our

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What is your favorite fairy tale? Mine has always been Beauty and the Beast; I loved the Disney movie when it first came out. I’ve always wondered, though, how the Beast became so beast-like so fast and that no one remembered him in that castle! The Beast Within by Serena Valentino (Disney Book Group, July

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Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (Viking, 1978) is a wonderful take on both Nursery Rhymes and the fun game “I Spy.” On each page is a simple rhyming phrase, with a picture opposite with someone for us to look for. For example, the first page says “Each Peach Pear Plum /

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