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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426 Items found Print
Active Filters: 1st grade (Ages 6-7)
Adelita
by Tomie DePaola
Reprint from Puffin Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Adventures of Tom Thumb
by Marianna Mayer, illustrated by K. Y. Craft
First Edition from HarperCollins
for Nursery-2nd grade
Adventures of Tom Thumb
by Marianna Mayer, illustrated by K. Y. Craft
First Edition from SeaStar Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
Aesop and Company
by Aesop, prepared by Barbara Bader and illustrated by Arthur Geisert
from Sandpiper Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, edited by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, and Alexander Calder
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Avenel Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, retold & illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
1st Ed. from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
from Wordsworth Classics
for Nursery-2nd grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Heidi Holder
1st edition from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Charles Santore
1988 ed from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
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
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, Illustrated by Walt Sturrock
from Unicorn Publishing House
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Aladdin
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by Pablo Ramirez
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock
by Eric A. Kimmel
Reprint from Holiday House
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Anansi the Spider Man
by Philip M. Sherlock, illustrated by Marcia Brown
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Animal Folk Tales of America
by Tony Palazzo
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Preschool-1st grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Arabian Nights: Three Tales
by Deborah Nourse Lattimore
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
Atarax the Wolf Tells: Greek Myths
by Adam De Gree
from Classical Historian
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$7.50
Atlantic Treasury of Childhood Stories
by Mary D. Huchinson Hodgkins (selector and editor), illustrated by Beatrice Stevens
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
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
Babushka Baba Yaga
by Patricia Polacco
from Putnam Juvenile
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Barefoot Book of Buddhist Tales
by Sherab Chodzin & Alexandra Kohn (retellers), illustrated by Marie Cameron
from Barefoot Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Beauty and the Beast
by Jan Brett
from Sandpiper Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Beauty and the Beast
by Marianna Mayer
from Four Winds Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Beauty and the Beast
by M. Charlotte Craft, K. Y. Craft
from HarperCollins
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Biggest House in the World
by Leo Lionni
from Dragonfly Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Boll Weevil
by Glen Rounds
from Golden Gate Junior Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bony-Legs
by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Dirk Zimmer
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Famous Fairy Tales
Young Folks Library
from Auxiliary Educational League
for 1st-6th grade
in Vintage Anthology Collections (Location: VIN-ANTH)
Book of Legends
by Horace E. Scudder
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-5th grade
$9.95
Bremen Town Musicians
by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
Tra from Minedition
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Bremen Town Musicians
by Ilse Plume retelling Brothers Grimm
Tra from Dragonfly Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
1981 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox
by Joel Chandler Harris, Jane S. Shaw
1st edition from Collins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
by Verna Aardema & Beatriz Vidal
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky
by Chief Seattle, illustrated by Susan Jeffers
1st edition from Dial Books for Young Readers
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky
by Chief Seattle, illustrated by Susan Jeffers
from Puffin Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.99
Buckwheat
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Bunyans
by Audrey Wood, illustrated by David Shannon
from Blue Sky press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humorous Folk Tale for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Candlewick Book of Fairy Tales
by Retold by Sarah Hayes, Illustrated by P.J. Lynch
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-5th grade
Cat and the Devil
by James Joyce, illustrated by Richard Erdoes
from E.M. Hale and Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$38.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Book of Stories from Many Lands
by Ada M. Skinner and Eleanor L. Skinner, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 1st-4th grade
Child's Story Book
by Kay Chorao
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the Forest
by Elsa Beskow
from Floris Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Chimney Corner Stories
by Veronica S. Hutchinson, illustrated by Lois Lenski
from Minton, Balch & CO.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Chinese Mythology: The Four Dragons
from PowerKids Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Cinderella
by Marcia Brown (translator)
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1955 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Cinderella
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by C. S. Evans, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
$15.95
Cinderella
by K. Y. Craft
from Chronicle Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Cinderella
by David Delamare
from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Cinderella
by Paul Galdone
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Cinderella
by Christine Messina (editor) with illustrations by Arthur Rackham and Warwick Goble
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 1st-4th grade
Cinderella
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by C. S. Evans, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Cinderella
by Charles Perrault, illustrated by Shirley Hughes
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Cinderella
by Ruth Sanderson
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Classic Bedtime Stories
by Scott Gustafson
from Greenwich Workshop Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Fairy Tales
by Scott Gustafson
from Greenwich Workshop Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
Classic Grimm's Fairy Tales
by Brothers Grimm, retold by Louise Betts Egan, illustrated by Various
from Courage Books
for 1st-4th grade
Clod Hans
Scandinavia Fairy Tales
by Hans Christian Andersen
from Word Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Contest
by Nonny Hogrogian
from Greenwillow Books
Armenian Folktale for 1st-3rd grade
1977 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Crane Maiden
by Miyoko Matsutani, illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki
from Parents Magazine Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Crane Wife
by Odds Bodkin
from Sandpiper Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.00
Cricket's Cage
by Stefan Czernecki
from Hyperion Books for Children
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Crystal Pool
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Book Treasuries (Location: PIC-TRE)
Cuckoo / Cucu
by Lois Ehlert
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Spanish Resources (Location: FL-SPARE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cupid and Psyche
by M. Charlotte Craft & K. Y. Craft
from Morrow Junior Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Curious Critters
by Patricia Lauber, illustrated by Don Madden
from Garrard Publishing Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$36.00 (1 in stock)
Dick Whittington and His Cat
by Marcia Brown
from Atheneum
for Preschool-2nd grade
1951 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Dick Whittington and His Cat
by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Melisande Potter
from Holiday House
for Preschool-2nd grade
1951 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Dragon Kite
by Nancy Luenn, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
by Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-6th grade
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
by László Gál
from Firefly Books
for 1st-4th grade
$8.00 (1 in stock)
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
by P. C. Asbjornsen & Jorgen E. Moe, illustrated by Tom Vroman
from Macmillan
for 1st-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
ECL: Sleeping Beauty and other Tales
by Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Wayne Brown
from Classic Press
for 1st-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Elves and the Shoemaker
by Freya Littledale, Illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Elves And The Shoemaker
by John Cech, illustrated by Kirill Chelushkin
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Elves and the Shoemaker
Tip-Top Elf Book
by Illustrated by Manning De V. Lee
from Rand McNally
for Nursery-1st grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Emperor and the Nightingale
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Bill Sokol
from Pantheon Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Emperor's New Clothes
by Virginia Burton, illustrator
from Sandpiper Books
Fairy Tale/Allegory for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.95
Fables
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Preschool-3rd grade
1981 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, illustrated by Edward J. Detmold
from Gramercy Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
Fairy Ring
by Kate Douglas Wiggin
from Yesterday's Classics
$23.95
Fairy Tale Set #1
by K. Y. Craft, Illustrator
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Fairy Tale Set #2
by Paul O. Zelinsky, Illustrator
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Fairy Tales
by Berlie Doherty, illustrated by Jane Ray
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-6th grade
Fairy Tales and Fables
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd.
for 1st-6th grade
Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen
by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Weathervane Books
for 1st-6th grade
Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales
by Gail Carson Levine
from HarperCollins
for 1st-6th grade
$7.99
Favorite All-Time Classics
by Various Anthology
from Rand McNally
for Nursery-1st grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$48.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Fables
by Amanda Atha (reteller), illustrated by Jane Harvey
from Bracken Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Favorite Greek Myths
by Mary Pope Osborne
from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
Favorite Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by H. B. Vestal
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
$11.95
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
by James Baldwin
from Living Book Press
for 1st-4th grade
$8.99
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