Book Review: American Fairy Tales

“By confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happened, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable. For in the fairy tales, side by side with the terrible figures, we find the immemorial comforters and protectors, the radiant ones; and the terrible figures are not merely terrible, but sublime. It would be nice if no little boy in bed, hearing or thinking he hears, a sound, were ever at all frightened. But if he is going to be frightened, I think it better that he should think of giants and dragons than merely of burglars. And I think St. George, or any bright champion in armour, is a better comfort than the idea of police.”
– “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” by C. S. Lewis


I didn't know L. Frank Baum had written a book of fairytales, so when I saw it as a free download on the Kindle, it was a simple choice to check it out. And I was pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed this little book. The stories range from a polar bear that loses its hide, to a naughty little girl who opens a forbidden truck and allows three robbers loose on the house. The stories are simply delightful, well told and imaginative. At the conclusion of each one, there is a little section with the "moral" of the tale. Very sweet. 


Enjoyably light reading for these hot, dry summer days. My fried brain was appreciative. :)


The 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge has really bogged down at the Antbed. In fact, I completely forgot about it for weeks at a time this summer because of "pick-up truck lag" (yes, I made that up as a substitute for "jet lag," which is much more romantic).


In the works are four or five other books that I am slowly reading through. We'll see how long they take to complete. It depends to a large degree on how much Samuel (our new grandson) comes to visit. :)


For now, this is #27 out of 52. 

http://www.read52booksin52weeks.com/