Two of the most famous storytellers that have endured
throughout the ages are Charles Peril and The Brothers
Grimm. These inspired men went from village to
village gathering old folklore and tales and captured
the essence of entertainment of old: storytelling.
Fortunately for our current generation, these stories
have survived (many being made into movies) and
continue to be enjoyed. The Fairy Tales, translated
by David Walser, has four of the most famous stories.
What I like most about this book is the extra large
font making it easy for youngsters to follow along.
The wonderfully creative illustrations by the famous
Jan Pienkowski make this large book a must! The
information about these storytellers at the beginning
of the book is very interesting. I only wish there
was a table of contents. The McElderry Book of
Grimm’s’ Fairy Tales, retold by Sviour Pirotta, and
illustrated by Emma Chickester Clark, has nine famous
stories and one less known story (“Little Mouse and
Lazy Cat”) with full page pictures that are loaded
with color.

And while we are on stories that have been around for
a long time, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, retold and
illustrated by Marcia Williams, reflect life back in
the middle ages. These tales, written about a band of
travelers as they try to “out tale” each other, are
interesting, humorous and give insight to the 14th
Century. Ms. Williams displays the stories in a
cartoon format with many bright and colorful pictures
helping the stories progress. This book would be an
excellent introduction into early literature for ages
11 through adult.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has
been published in so many different formats. Alison
Jay has beautifully illustrated this incredible story
in this newest edition. It’s books like this that
make me hopeful that more kids will read the original
story that has so much more to offer than the Disney
animated movie.

Hans Christian Anderson is another famous storyteller
that wrote hundreds of wonderful stories that have
endured through time. The Princess and the Pea,
retold and illustrated by Lauren Child, is uniquely
told with the signature style of Ms. Child. Each
picture has the flair of using the drawings and
settings drawn and built by the illustrator and then
Polly Borland photographed the complete set. The text
is also typical of Ms. Child with words being
emphasized by using different fonts and sizes. There
is so much to look at and enjoy that this book will
surely be revisited many times.

The next three books were first written back in the
early 20th century and recently reissued. Millions of
Cats, by Wanda Gag, won the Newbery Honor award back
in 1929 and is still a delight about an elderly couple
desiring to have a cat until they are beset upon by
millions of cats. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel,
by Virginia Lee Burton, has just been made into a
board book and tells about this famous couple and how
they helped a community navigate around their town.
Over the Moon: Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and
My World, all by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated
by Clement Hurd, are three classics compacted into one
perfect sized picture book for easy travel. If you
haven’t read any of these 3 books - shame on you!

The last book was first published back in 1986 and is
one of the first to place pockets and packets inside
picture books. The Jolly Postman or Other People’s
Letters, by Janet & Allan Ahlberg, is a delightful
story about a mail carrier distributing mail on behalf
of very famous characters which include Cinderella and
The Three Bears. All of the afore mentioned reissues
are sure to become favorites to the newest generation
of children!