The Blue Fairy Book: Complete and Unabridged (1) (Andrew Lang Fairy Book Series)

10

I was losing hope on ever finding beautiful, hardcover copies of the fairy books since not a lot of publishers printed them. Folio society had them for a while but the books are now out of print so third party sellers are selling them for a HUGE profit. I could barely contain my excitement when I saw these affordable and UNABRIDGED editions from Racehorse Publishing which is under Simon and Schuster. I purchased the Blue and Red Fairy books and found out that the Green and Yellow books are going to be released on November! I hope that they would publish the remaining 8 of the fairy books so I could complete all 12 of them. Overall, amazing value! I’m very satisfied.

I bought this book for Valentine's Day for my six-month-old goddaughter. Starting her off right! It's a beautiful hardcover book with quality paper and lovely illustrations. I plan to buy the series and give her a different color fairy book for each special occasion. I also bought the Kindle version for myself. You're never too old for a good fairy tale.

I have a copy of this volume that I inherited from my father (early 1900s) and one of my granddaughters fell in love with it. Since she's half of a pair of twins, I needed two copies (one for each twin lest one feel slighted) and this one is really lovely.

I was so excited to find an unabridged hardcover of Lang's Blue Fairy Book. With illustrations, too! I looked forward to purchasing future Lang fairy books as they were republished. However, the spine of the book is not blue, but yellow, and I can only assume the other books will be the same. I am very disappointed in this. It is just a preference of mine, to have all of the books, with their different colors, on the shelf. I will keep this one until it can hopefully be replaced in the future, but I won't be buying any more of this edition.

My 8 year old loves this. I like the classic versions of the stories. These are not watered down fairy tales, so make sure your child is mature enough to handle. For my kiddos (a bit sensitive, they don’t see much tv), I think around 7-9 is great age. I enjoy them as an adult.

I do not recommend this book though i love fairytales and strongly believe that children should be exposed to them, this book should not be the one to do so. I believe in teaching my children good values and hard work, that integrity and goodness trumps evil. I have only read 4 of the stories and only one of the four have impressed me. The values taught in the stories that i read were that you do not have to do good to get ahead, its ok to cheat and lie to get what you want. In one story inparticular an enchanted bear takes a young girl to be his wife and provides all her heart desires but at night when it is dark he turns back into a man and climbs into bed with her and sleeps next to her every night...the girl misses her family so the bear arranged a visit but instructed the girl not be left alone with her mother for she will surely ask about what goes on in the castle and she must not tell her mother about what happens at night......So NO....that is not ok. There are other stories where the hero of the story is instructed to kill in order to get ahead. There has to be other books out there that are better to teach our children fairytales than this.

Before I say anything else, let me say that to appreciate these books you have to understand what Fairy Tales ARE, and what they are NOT. They are NOT modern entertainment fiction, or religious morality tales, and originally they were not written exclusively for children. If you are looking for unchallenging entertainment, morality tales, or stories that reinforce modern values and rules, then look elsewhere.Real fairy tales are often scary, dark, strange, gruesome, and filled with magic and morally ambiguous characters and situations, the point of which is to help the listener to develop discernment and an understanding of the subtleties of the real world (as opposed to the sanitized, conventional adult world) we inhabit.They are meant to be discussed afterwards, and when they are, they become learning opportunities. One can learn about one's ancestors, foreign cultures, customs, and beliefs, and about aspects of reality that "conventional wisdom" prefers to ignore. One can immerse in complex symbolism and the power of poetic language, if one is open to something more than a literal interpretation of events. Books like these offer tales from different countries and different time periods, and the emphasis in the tales changes with location and time. They are not "American" stories; they do not belong to any modern nation. Their themes are timeless and universal.If what you want are stories which are imaginitive, thought-provoking, which give you things to debate and discuss and invite you into places you've never been, or have not visited for many years, then these books are for you. They are affordable, authentic, and beautifully made. Buy them now, before they disappear and you have to pay a fortune for some ratty, musty, water stained and smudged old copy. Save them for the winter fire-side, with a mug of hot-cocoa or a glass of wine, and for pity's sake--read them aloud. The world is an amazing place... much wilder, and madder than anything most of us can imagine. Revel in it. Puzzle over it. Allow yourself to wander in these strange lands, regarding them from every possible perspective and angle.This is what books are for.

Do not buy. I bought for the gorgeous cover art work and was hoping more beautiful pics would be inside... NOPE. The cover artwork itself is all pixelated and stretched like the image was stolen from google images and expanded way too big (super unprofessional in my opinion!!) and the text on the inside (with no extra pictures of any kind) looks like a printed manuscript off for editing and review, not like a finished copy of a book you would sell. Very disappointed and totally returning this shady a** copy of this cool volume of stories :(

Nice binding. Pages in order.Will buy rest of set eventually.

Very happy with this.