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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39 Items found Print
Active Filters: Ancient Greece, 3rd grade (Ages 8-9)
Aesop's Fables
Puffin Classics
by Aesop
Reprint from Puffin Books
Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99
Black Ships Before Troy
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$22.99
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$10.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum
from Simon and Schuster
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Children's Homer
by Padraic Colum
from Simon and Brown
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Greek Myths
by Mary Pope Osborne
from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
Gods and Goddesses of Olympus
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$7.99
Golden Fleece
by Padraic Colum & Willy Pogany
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
1922 Newbery Honor Book
$10.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Greek Myths
by Geraldine McCaughrean, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 3rd-6th grade
Greek Myths
by Marcia Williams
from Walker Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$8.99
Hercules
Heroes Series #4
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Cricket Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Hercules and Other Tales from Greek Myths
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by David Lockhart
from Scholastic Inc.
Greek Mythology for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Iliad (retold)
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
Odysseus
Heroes Series #1
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Cricket Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Pegasus
by Marianna Mayer & K. Y. Craft
1st ed from HarperCollins
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Pegasus
by Marianna Mayer & K. Y. Craft
1st ed from Morrow Eagle
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Persephone
by Sally Clayton, Illustrated by Virginia Lee
from Eerdmans
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$20.00
Perseus
Heroes Series #2
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Cricket Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Song to Demeter
by Cynthia & William Birrer
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Golden Age of Greek Heroes
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$11.95
Tales of Troy and Greece
by Andrew Lang
from Faber & Faber
for 3rd-6th grade
Tales of Troy and Greece
by Andrew Lang
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
Tanglewood Tales
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ill from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-6th grade
$13.95 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Tanglewood Tales
Calla Editions
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-7th grade
Tanglewood Tales
Copper Lodge Library
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Classical Conversations
for 3rd-6th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.99
Tanglewood Tales
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ill from Living Book Press
for 3rd-6th grade
$16.99
Theseus
Heroes Series #3
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Cricket Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Theseus and the Minotaur
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Theseus and the Minotaur
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Holiday House
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Trojan Horse
Step Into Reading Level 5
by Emily Little
from Random House
Greek Mythology for 2nd-4th grade
in Step into Reading (Location: EAR-STEP)
$4.99 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Usborne Greek Myths
by Heather Amery
from Usborne
for 2nd-3rd grade
$4.05 (1 in stock)
Wanderings of Odysseus
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
Wonder Book
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Dick Cuffari
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-5th grade
Wonder Book
Windermere Readers #1
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 1
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 2
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 3
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book
Windermere Series 4
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wonder Book / Nonsense Books
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edward Lear
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-5th grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)