The book was good at first, then I seem to sense that these stories mentioned were where Disney movies came from. For example, in the story, Rapunzel, it is like the movie Tangled, yet Rapunzel ended badly as Tangled ended in a good note. There are also some stories where they were modified using this book, like the story of the three little pigs, people would just be the story of the little pigs and a wolf would blow their houses down. In the book, although, the pigs were goats and the wolf would be blowing the houses except for the one made out of bricks of course. I do not think there is a main idea in the story since the book consists of different stories written in a certain time. I do not think there is an overall message in the book because it consists of a variety of stories that have a separate message given to its audience. ( )

Very comprehensive but be aware there's some very dark stuff in here, not the book for you six year old.

Pro: Stories I was unfamiliar with -- not just the "adults only" ones at the end -- beautiful illustrations, well-designed layout.

Con: translations are flat, annotations are often pedestrian and uninsightful, and sometimes just repeat matter in the introductions to the individual stories.. ( )

This is our current bedtime read. I keep forgetting that my son is having a different childhood than I had, and that he didn't spend asthmatic afternoons stuck in bed with books. So he's not as fairy-tale literate as I was at his age. Also, he's old enough to be interested in the origin story of these stories as well as the stories themselves. So we're enjoying this collection and its introduction and footnotes.

--Just finished. This is a fine selection. The most famous tales rub shoulders with more obscure offerings. Maria Tatar included my favorite story, the clunkily titled "A Fairy Tale about a Boy Who Left Home to Learn about Fear;" but I loved reading grim stories that were new to me like "Godfather Death," "The Hand With The Knife," "How Children Played Butcher With Each Other," and the single-paragraph "The Stubborn Child" (hint: he does *not* come to a good end).

Speaking of grim stories: Was anyone else confused as a child by the coincidence of grim and Grimm? I remember starting a collection of the stories when I was young, and having to close it unfinished -- too much cannibalism, too many chopped-off heads. I looked at the name on the cover and wasn't sure if it meant that these stories were grim (which they certainly were) or if that was the name of the authors (which seemed like a scary coincidence). ( )

ever since i was a wee little tot, a copy of grimm's folk tales has, more often than not, been by my bedside. so it was a delight to find an edition that not only has informative annotations, but also, an inclusion of strange and slightly disturbing tales i had never seen before. ( )