Once Upon a World Collection (Boxed Set): Snow White; Cinderella; Rapunzel; The Princess and the Pea Board book – August 21, 2018

Fairytales from the perspective of different nationalities? Sign me up!At first, I thought these books were going to more ethnic retellings of timeless fairytales, so when I read the stories and found them to be the same rehashed telling of the fairytales we all know and love, I was a bit disappointed.That quickly melted away when I realized that these aren't meant to be retellings of the timeless tales. They offer something far more precious: representation.These stories allow brown-skinned girls to see Rapunzel in a sari, like them. Snow White with almond-shaped eyes and a kimono. Cinderella as a dark-skinned beauty in a gorgeous, Mexican huipil. This type of representation is so important for little girls of all ages. The weakest representation I found was in The Princess and the Pea, I thought the Russian artistic choices were not as easily identifiable. Nevertheless, the stories are near and dear to many hearts, and the new artistic renderings bring new life to them.These books are a must for any household!

I bought this for my 5 year old niece. We both loved the set! The illustrations are vibrant and the books had a lovely matte feel to them. We loved seeing different nations represented in these classic fairy tales.

I liked the illustrations in the book. Nice change from the typical depictions of the princesses in popular fairytales. Stories are a bit long for younger toddlers probably, but mine sits still for most of a story at about 20months old. Although she really enjoys looking through the books to see the pretty pictures.

As a foster parent, I like to make sure that I have books on hand that showcase every culture, as I'm never sure what the background of the child who is placed with me is until they're here. These books do a great job of adding some diversity for the 0-3 crowd. I'm so glad there are sturdy board books available that accomplish that task, instead of exclusively paper paged books. I also appreciate that these books aren't pushing the "it's ok to be different" or "it's ok to look different" thing. There's a time and a place for those books, but representation isn't about pointing out how different you are and telling you it's ok, it's about casually including everyone in everyday things.

I like that the princesses are representative of other cultures. The actual stories are lacking but the illustrations do make up for that.

My baby is too little to sit still to read a whole story this long, but she likes looking at the drawings. That is the most important part, and I hope one day she likes the stories, too!

I love the diversity of these books and the artwork is incredible. My toddler loves the bright colors!

I heard about these books a long time ago and waited for the boxed set to be released. I love the illustrations. These have become my go to baby shower or first birthday gift for little girls. I’ve ordered multiple and just adore them!