The modern world of juvenile literature is vast and highly varied. Just on this site, we offer more than 160,000 titles that are currently in print. There is a lot of everything out there, which is a blessing and a curse.
You can find books that entertain in rude ways, books that educate well, books that are nonsensical and fun, books that teach morals and social grace. That’s to say nothing of the numerous character books, movie tie-ins and sports-based books.
All the above is available in numerous formats; hardcover, paperback, cloth, pop up, paperback, miniature and many more. It wasn’t always this way. Up until about 1960, options for children’s literature were very limited, comparatively.
What did parents read to kids before that time? The answer is this: mostly classic stories, the bible and other fiction. It wasn’t all bad in the old days. Many of the classic fairly tales and other stories are very entertaining and worthy of attention.
The Story book that might have occupied the family home in generations past is still just as relevant and offers just as much to children in 2013 as it did for their great-grandparents. There are many wonderful anthologies and compilations that contain classic fairy tales and time-tested stories for children. All the titles below contain have beautiful stories and illustrations that a child born after 2010 will come to appreciate and enjoy.
The anthology that we like the best of all of these is Classic Children’s Stories: Nursery Rhymes, Bedtime Stories, Nonsense Poems, and Much More. This title is a treasure trove of stories and illustration that will certainly become a classic in your own home.
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See all Fairytale and Story Book Anthologies Here.
Of course, story time is not just for the classics. There are numerous titles that contain wonderful stories. These stories have a certain plot line and offer an opportunity for parent and child to read an entire story in one sitting.
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Reading a story book is rewarding. Unlike reading a book about colors, animals, or one that has a short and shallow plot, reading a real story book allows time for a young child to understand that a plot has a set-up a middle that contains some sort of issue to be solved, and, an end.
Fairy tales are undergoing a significant resurgence in popular culture. Major television networks are releasing new series based on fairy tale characters and their stories, major motion pictures that are successful at fairly tale “mash ups” and the list goes on.
Reading a fairly tale in its original form proves to be interesting to the parent. Many will find that the modern interpretation of the classic take is, at a minimum, heavily adapted.
We have an anthology at home that contains the tale of Rapunzel. In it, I learned that Rapunzel’s prince was blinded by the old witch after she cut Rapunzel’s hair and banished her to the desert. This is a far cry from the recent Disney adaptation of this tale.
My three year-old, when we read the book, tells me that the illustrated girl in the book is “not Rapunzel”. She enjoys the story, but does not realize that the stories about her beloved princesses are hundreds of years old. I guess that will come later as she, hopefully, becomes an avid reader.
Reading stories to children is worth the effort. As always, we at childrensbooktore.com want to make it easy to find the best that’s available in juvenile literature. Please feel free to email us questions that will help you find just the right book.
Happy story time with your little readers!