Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children

Not that these are "soft" versions of the fairy tales we know and love—they're just not quite as jarring as the original material. Whereas the Brothers Grimm didn't hesitate to include excessive violence, genuine terror and even (on occasion) sexual references, authors like Andrew Lang opted to gentle the stories a bit so as not to spook the youngsters too much. While we certainly encourage you to read the originals and introduce them to your kids at some point, the books you'll find in this section are a great place to start small children on traditional tales and folklore.

It's not so much that fairy tales offer kids a new way of seeing the world, it's more that they are already in line with the way kids do see the world. For a child, monsters really do lurk in the shadows, pumpkins can turn into vehicles, and animals really do have rational thoughts and can even (at times, if you listen closely enough) talk. To force children into an adult world where only the unavoidable and routine can take place is to rob them of not only their youth, but their ability to imagine.

More than any other kind of story, fairy tales are only a segue to genuine creativity. Kids read about Princes Charming, Princesses in Distress, Dragons, Dragon-Fighters, dwarfs, elves and pixies—and then become each of these things in turn in the backyard. Not that most children need inspiration, but it certainly can't hurt, nor can it hurt for them to realize they aren't the first ones to imagine fairies in the trees and gnomes in the garden. We've chosen the books you'll find here for the quality of artwork, faithfulness of adaptation, and overall appeal both to kids and their parents (who may have missed out on good fairy tales themselves).

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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53 Items found Print
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Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
by written by Marianna Mayer, Illustrated by K. Y. Craft
First Edition from HarperCollins
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Beautiful Blue Jay and Other Tales of India
by John W. Spellman, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
PF from Collier Books
for 4th-6th grade
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Cricket's Cage
by Stefan Czernecki
from Hyperion Books for Children
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Fa Mulan
by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Jean & Mou-Sien Tseng
from Hyperion Books for Children
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Filipino Children's Favorite Stories
by Joanne de Leon, Liana Elena Romulo
Hardcover with Jacket from Unknown Publisher
for 3rd-5th grade
Finist the Falcon Prince
by Translated by Lydia Regehr from a story by Andrei Platonov, Illustrated by Mary Chagnon
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales
by Jacqueline Onassis, illustrated by Boris Zvorykin
from Viking Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
by Arthur Ransome
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1969 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$24.99
Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
by Arthur Ransome, illustrated by Uri Shulevitz
from Sunburst Book
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1969 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Grain of Rice
by Helena Clare Pittman
from Yearling
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 2nd-4th grade
$7.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales
Calla Editions
by Grace James
from Dover Publications
for 7th-10th grade
Indian Tales
by Shenaaz Nanji
from Barefoot Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Korean Cinderella
by Shirley Climo & Ruth Heller
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Liang and the Magic Paintbrush
by Demi
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little Humpbacked Horse
by Adapted by Elizabeth Winthrop, Illustrated by Alexander Koshkin
from Clarion Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Lon Po Po
by Ed Young
from PaperStar Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1990 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Magic Brush
by Robert B. Goodman & Robert A. Spicer (adapters), illustrated by Y. T. Mui, edited by Ruth Tabrah
from Island Heritage Publishing
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Magic Fan
by Keith Baker
from Sandpiper Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Monkey and the Crab
by Seishi Horio (reteller), illustrated by Tsutomu Murakami
from Heian International, Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Monkey and the Crocodile
by Paul Galdone
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Monkey and the Crocodile
by Paul Galdone
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Moon Lady
by Amy Tan
Reprint from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-5th grade
One Grain of Rice
by Demi
from Scholastic Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$21.99
Prince Ivan and the Firebird
by Bernard Lodge
from Whispering Coyote Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Russian Fairy Tales
by Gillian Avery (Reteller), illustrated by Ivan Bilibin
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
$20.00
Seashore Story
by Taro Yashima
from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
1968 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Seeing Stick
by Jane Yolen
Reprint from Running Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Seven Chinese Brothers
by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Seven Chinese Brothers
by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Seven Simeons
by Boris Artzybasheff
from Viking Press
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
1938 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Shen of the Sea
by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
from Dutton Juvenile
for 3rd-5th grade
1926 Newbery Medal
$17.99
Shen of the Sea
by Arthur Bowie Chrisman, illustrated by Else Hasselriis
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-5th grade
1926 Newbery Medal
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Shibumi and the Kitemaker
by Mercer Mayer
from Marshall Cavendish Education
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Princess
by Ruth Sanderson
from Crocodile Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.95
Starry River of the Sky
by Grace Lin
Reprint from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-7th grade
Stories from India
Folklore of the World
by Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch, & Gordon Laite (Illustrator)
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 1st-3rd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Stories from Japan
Folklore of the World
by Edward & Marguerite P. Dolch
from Garrard Publishing Company
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Stories from Old China
Folklore of the World
by Edward W. Dolch, Marguerite P. Dolch, & Seong Moy (Illustrator
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Sweet and Sour
from HMH Books for Young Readers
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$8.95 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Tale of the Mandarin Ducks
by Katherine Paterson
from Puffin Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Tale of Two Rice Birds
by Adapted by Clare Hodgson Meeker, Illustrated by Christine Lamb
from Sasquatch Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Tales from Indian Classics Book III
by Savitri (reteller), illustrated by Sukumar Chatterjee
from Children's Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Tales from Japan
by Helen & William McAlpine
from Oxford University
for 4th-6th grade
Tales of a Korean Grandmother
by Frances Carpenter
from Tuttle Publishing
Eastern Fairy Tales for 1st-6th grade
Tiger and the Brahmin
by Brian Gleeson
from Simon and Schuster
for 1st-3rd grade
in Tools for Young Historians (Location: BIBWV-TYH)
Tikki Tikki Tembo
by Arlene Mosel
from Square Fish Publishing
Humorous Folk Tale for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Tikki Tikki Tembo
by Arlene Mosel
from Henry Holt and Company
Humorous Folk Tale for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Urashima and the Kingdom Beneath the Sea
by Ralph F. McCarthy
for 4th-6th grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Weaving of a Dream
by Marilee Heyer
Reissue from Puffin Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Willow Pattern Story
by Allan Drummond
from North-South Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Yeh-Shen
by Ai-Ling Louie
from Puffin Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)