Usborne Publishing Ltd Illustrated Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

When I don't feel like facing reality or just need something to put me to sleep, I dive into the world of this book. I love the illustrations, as they are what I consider truly classic. The pictures, which look like magical paintings, nest among the paragraphs, and my mind smoothly drifts over the blend of text and visuals. The stories themselves are beautifully imaginative and just the right length for me. The book contains fairy tales which have many versions going around out there. I tend to prefer certain versions over others, and I am finicky over how tales are ended. I like fairy tales better when they are ended positively either in the sense of a happily ever after or in the sense of the character passing on a lesson learned from his mistakes. The versions of all the fairy tales, except one, presented in this book were wonderful and satisfactory to my taste. "The Little Mermaid" is the only story I found not quite to my satisfaction because it abruptly ended sadly while leaving out the moral shown in some of the tale's versions. Other than that, the stories are all beautiful, with endings that leave me feeling content when I close the book. There is a balance of stories with happy and tragic endings, so I can choose a story which fits my mood. This book is my escape from the real world.

De belles illustrations au début de chaque histoire (12) mais hélas très peu après. Dommage, pour les plus grands donc

The perfect sized book with wonderful illustrations in a comprehensible, modern English, retelling. It surpassed my expectations. The stories themselves are witty and fun.

Wonderful book

Bought for grandchildren so parent can read them stories.