Tag Archives: fairy tales

299M: Like brightly colored Hummel characters

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I’m looking for a children’s book that was a collection of fairy tales or stories.  My father brought it home to me around the mid 1980’s from one of his trips abroad.  The book was written in English, largish font, and beautifully illustrated.  The pictures stand out the most in my memory, reminding me of brightly colored Hummel characters.  I believe the front cover had a boy and girl on a wagon.  The stories were unique, I’ve never read them anywhere else.  The only bits I can recall is that one story was about a princess or young girl who was picking peaches and either in the same story or a completely different one there were elves or fairies picking leaves of gold and they had to wear special sunglasses to do so.  It was either leaves or apples of gold.

I hope what little information I was able to provide will help you in figuring out what book this was!

 

299J: An Illustrated Cinderella

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I’m searching for information on an illustrated version of Cinderella that I had when I was growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s.  It was a small book, maybe 3 or 4 inches in height, hardcover.  Here are the details I can remember:

-I think the cover’s background was black.

-The scene at the ball is illustrated with the two stepsisters wearing black beauty marks on their faces, I think in the shape of a heart and a star.

-Some of the pages had borders around them, maybe vines and glass slippers?

-It was a colored line drawing style– fanciful, but not cartoon-ish.

298R: Late 1970/ early 1980s fairy tale book with 12 Dancing Princesses

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I checked in the fairy tales page but didn’t find my book amongst the ones listed. I am looking for a child’s fairy tale book that was probably published in the late 1970s or early 80s and possibly in Canada as my parents lived in the Niagara Falls area and it may have been purchased in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The book was oversized and probably around 100 pages with a pale bluish cover and contained many tales including The Nightingale and I think the very last story was the 12 Dancing Princesses. It was heavily illustrated with beautiful colour illustrations that had a very “silky” look to clothing and hair of the characters. I’m pretty sure it was a generic title such as Fairy Tales or maybe World’s Best Fairy Tales  and it is NOT the Reader’s Digest book from that era. I think there may have been a prince and princess on the front cover and there was a round vignette illustration on the back of scenery I believe.  Any help would be appreciated!

289M: A collection of fairy tales and legends

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The book I am searching for is an anthology of stories that include fairy tales and legends such as Tales of Robin Hood which covers his death, The Waterbabies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and Longshanks, Girth and Keen, I think even Aladdin, to name a few. It was at least 8×12 red and probably from the late 50’s or before, it had fallen apart by the 60’s. The collection was eclectic to be sure but it obsesses me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

289H: Not the traditional stories

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Hello! I’m trying to find a children’s book collection of chapter books from the early 1980’s. Probably 3rd/4th grade level. I recall at least 5 books in a boxed set, which I received in 1982.

Definitely fairy tales, but not the traditional stories that everyone knows.

There were a number of stories with different characters. Pixies, fairies, wood sprites, a Dodo bird, etc. There were some illustrations, but I think it was mostly at the beginning of each chapter.

283A: Boxed set of illustrated fairy tales (Solved)

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I am looking for a boxed set of wonderfully illustrated fairy tales from the 1970s.

This was given to me in 1974 or 1975 by my grandparents.

The books were huge, maybe 11×14, and contained 3-4 stories in each. The set must have had at least 10-12 books. They were covered in a hard cloth-cardboard, thin, no more than a half-inch thick, and in pastel colors of blue, pink, yellow, orange.

There was a distinctive, oblong sun logo or emblem on each book but not sure if that was the publisher’s. They may have been from Reader’s Digest or Random House. I think they were mail order.

The stories I remember were Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina (this was my favorite because of a sweet picture of Thumbelina nursing the Bird), The Brave Tin Soldier though there were many, many more. I think it was a mix of authors, not just one.

The last time I had the set was in 1992 in Ithaca, NY.

273D: Ethereal Little Mermaid Illustrations

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I’m looking for a Hans Christian Andersen collection of fairy tales from the early 90s. I read it when around 1994-6 but it could have been published a little earlier. I remember it for its Little Mermaid illustrations. They were so beautiful and seemed to glow. Lots of pale mermaids with long blonder hair. Like angels. The pages I remember most are the pictures where the Little Mermaid’s sisters are hoisting each other up out of the sea to hand her a dagger to kill the prince. The last page is the Little Mermaid floating to the sky as an angel after she kills herself to save the prince. It was hardcover and I believe it also had The Princess and the Pea and The Tin Solider stories in it, but I think different illustrators worked on them.

 

Hope this was enough to be helpful. I tried to look up books published in that time frame with Hans Christian Andersen author credits, but couldn’t find a comprehensive list.

269A: Fairytale Compilation from 70s or 80s (Solved)

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I was born in 1985 so I must have had the book in the late 80’s early 90s, My mother purchased it from ToysRUs and it was a hardcover book with what I believe was a blue and white dust jacket. It is not the blue book of fairytales or the Richard Scarry book. It included Henny Penny, The Princess and the Pea, I believe also Anasi the spider and a story about a jackal or fox. There were about twenty stories in it. Please help! Thanks!

267B: Myths and monsters

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The book (or possibly book series) I am looking for (to the best of my memory) is a children’s collection of short stories involving myths or legends or fairy tales.  I had the book in the early 90s and it may have been an older book.  I believe some (or all) of the stories may have been foreign tales.  I remember a story with a chimera.  I also remember a story about a village and a small dragon/lizard type creature.  I think he hid in wicker baskets along the streets possibly visiting a particular two story house.  These two stories fascinated me as a child because the creatures were scary.  I believe the other stories in the book may not have had monsters like this. I seem to also remember a story about a tree. possibly the moral of this story was one bad apple spoiling the bunch, or an apple not falling far from the tree.  I seem to remember that most of these stories had a moral theme like this.  I feel like the book had an older vibe like the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson.  There may have been pictures but the book was mostly words.  Please let me know if i can provide any further detail. I don’t remember the name of the book but i seem to think it may have had the word MYTH in the title.  I really hope you can help!!