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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41 Items found Print
Active Filters: Animal Stories: Fantasy, 1st grade (Ages 6-7)
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)
Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock
by Eric A. Kimmel
Reprint from Holiday House
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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)
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)
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)
How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Just So Stories
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
$18.00
Just So Stories
Children's Classics
by Rudyard Kipling (illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson)
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Just So Stories
Books of Wonder
by Rudyard Kipling (illustrated by Barry Moser)
from HarperCollins
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling (illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson)
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson
from Book-of-the-Month Club
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Misoso
by Verna Aardema
illustrated edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Mouse Soup
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Once a Mouse
by Marcia Brown
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1962 Caldecott Medal Winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Once a Mouse
by Marcia Brown
from Atheneum
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1962 Caldecott Medal Winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
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)
Rat-Catcher's Son
by Carolyn London
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 1st-3rd grade
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Rat-Catcher's Son
by Carolyn London
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 1st-3rd grade
$3.50 (3 in stock)
Reading-Literature First Reader
by Harriette Taylor Treadwell, Margaret Free
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Reading-Literature Second Reader
by Harriette Taylor Treadwell, Margaret Free
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-2nd grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
Three Billy Goats Gruff
by Marcia Brown (illustrator)
from Harcourt
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
by Eugene Trivizas
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Tiger and the Brahmin
by Brian Gleeson
from Simon and Schuster
for 1st-3rd grade
in Tools for Young Historians (Location: BIBWV-TYH)
True Story of the 3 Little Pigs
by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
from Puffin Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Ugly Duckling
by Hans Christian Andersen
from C. R. Gibson
for Nursery-1st grade
Uncle Remus Stories
by Joel Chandler Harris, Jane S. Shaw
from Collins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Health Communications, Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)