I don’t think it’s the Fairy Tale Book. About 9 -12 in tall – thick with beautifully coloured illustrations. Briar Rose, Rapunzel + many more. Maybe also rhymes & riddles. I really want to buy a copy but can’t find one.
This was a hardback book, with a picture of a beautiful blonde girl on the front with a well and green hills in the background, and I recollect it being blue? But that could be wrong.
It was a compilation of different fairy tales and except for the ‘seven brothers into seven crows’ tale, none of them I have ever come across since.
The tales included stories about;
A little girl who lied a lot and then got given a ring and the ring squeezed her finger and went bright red when she lied.
A little elf who went to a house with blue flowers in the garden and somehow he was invisible and he went inside the house where the other elves were baking and tried to steal toffee but got caught.
A wicked magician who had a cloak made out of enchanted beads and somehow moths got to it and it disintegrated and beads spilled everywhere and the villagers took them.
And , the one I remember most clearly was a tale about a wicked mother who had two daughters, one beautiful and one plain – she went away and told the girls to cook clean etc. but the ugly sister wouldn’t do it and so the pretty one did everything but when the mother returned the ugly sister lied and said she did everything so the pretty sister ran into the woods. In the woods she found the house where an old woman lived and so she asked to stay, she made the woman delicious apple pie and cleaned her whole house and so the woman said pick a brooch and a cloak. She picked a ratty old cloak and a plain lark pin, even though the woman had many fine ones. When she left the house the sun shone on the cloak and it was rich velvet with precious jewels all over it. When she got home her mother and sister were so mean she went out to the well and cried but when she sobbed it came out sounding beautiful and a passing prince wanted to marry her. Her sister was jealous and so went into the woods and found the old woman but she did nothing and made the woman cook for her and then demanded a cloak and brooch. She took the fanciest cloak and a emerald toad pin. When she went outside the cloak turned into a motheaten piece of cloth and when she got home and went to the well and cried but it came out sounding like a toad croak.
There were more tales but I can’t remember them. I specifically want the compilation, rather than individual adoptions of the tales. If anyone knows about this it would make me so happy as my mum accidentally gave this book away and it was my childhood favorite.
Unsure when published. Around 20 pgs. Children’s short stories/poems. Included 3 Billy Goats Gruff, a story of a man who walked on his hands & planted a garden. Last story about boy who hated a perfect girl in class (focused on her name). Many others. Each story 1-2 pgs. No color pics, just drawings
A horror anthology read in the early 90s, found at a school book fair.
-A girl has the power to shrink people who she feels betray her and keeps them in a dollhouse or birdcage.
-Two siblings befriend the new neighbor only to find that she’s a vampire
-A girl keeps hearing something in the cellar begging her for help. It turns out to be some mummified creature that drags her under the floor and that it had meant “help” as in “I’m hungry”
-SHADOWS COME TO LIFE AND KILL PEOPLE. There’s this big scene at the end where the latest victim family is desperately trying to light matches to keep the shadows away.
This was a book read in the late 80s which presented the unicorn as history instead of myth. The drawings were in brown and white and done to look as though they were very old. The basis of the book was the unicorn as an angelic creature, and one of the stories described it fighting demons disguised as dragons. I’ve already checked the books of Bruce Coville and Jane Yolen – nothing.
This was a large picture book, made up of multiple stories. The main story and cover art featured a young blonde girl, she traveled with fairies, they would ride large bugs, like ladybugs. Also a story about gnomes, they had homes made of ice cream. I believe there was a mermaid/pearl story.
“Our Boys”: very old book I had as a child. I estimate it was between 1880 & 1930(sorry!). It was an anthology of children’s stories & included The Little Match Girl & Hansel & Gretel. Other than that, I remember it was blue or green binding, oversized & with b&w lithograph illustrations. Thanks!
I don’t remember the title or author. Hardcover book, maybe light yellow. Printed in 1970s or 1980’s. No later than 1988. It had different plays kids could act out. I think it included prop lists with each little play. Cover maybe had a stage with kids.
I’m really hoping you can help me, I’ve been searching the web for a couple of weeks trying to find my favourite childhood book with no success!
It was a collection of short stories, the title of the book had the word ‘bedtime’ in it but I can’t remember any more than that. It was a hardback book with a blue cover and there was also a yellow hardback one of the same characters and author. In one of those books was a story about Mrs mouse who loses her ring in a teacup/teapot. I would have had this book in the 80’s perhaps early 90’s. This is all I can remember!
Short story book read in UK aprox 1965. Think was thick cover & thick pages-each story had black and white line drawing at top. 1 story=Gnomes/ goblins knocking on doors asking for jobs- phrase used by goblins was “why to be sure”. Lady asked for hedges cut but they cut into shape of toadstools.