Frederick's Fables : A Treasury of 16 Favorite Leo Lionni Stories

"Frederick" is my favorite picture book from my childhood, but I barely came into contact with any of the other stories here until reading this collection as an adult. It's too bad, because each of them is beautiful. Fish imagine the world outside the sea full of fishes with wings and udders and clothes; crocodiles stand on their hind legs and become influencers; and mice wear masks for Mardi Gras and come to believe they are the things they pretend to be.

Amazing introduction. Poetic & provocative. For example, as a youngster, hanging about museums & watching the copyists, he 'discovered the creative delights of craftsmanship, and the pleasure of recognizing the solidity of one's lonely self in the midst of a crowd.'

And of course the illustrations are amazing, too. The stories, well, let's just say some aren't as strong as others. And different readers will agree with the sentiments differently. Best shared in a small group and discussed, one at a time.

My 14 yo read some (he's got a cold and can't concentrate on his own books - he says An Extraordinary Egg is cute. I agree it'w one of the better ones.

Note - this collection needs must compress, so much artwork from the independent books show more is lost. show less

We've been reading through this collection. It's truly great to find all these stories together in one book and it's a great chance to get an overview of Lionni's illustrations and the different techniques he applies to different stories. Caveat: Many illustrations are missing in this compendium, and sometimes the missing illustrations are pretty critical for the story. For instance in Frederick, there is no picture of the big stonewall the mice are living in. Sometimes the text directly refers to something in the missing picture, and I found my son repeatedly wanting to turn the page looking for some item described in the text, only to find the end of the story. So, your favorite stories might be worth seeking out in the original show more version, with complete illustrations.

Some of the stories are wonderfully philosophical, they really are fables: part fairy tale, part parable, more often than not do they include some lesson to be learned, but you can ponder on them and discuss the meaning, because it's not being shoved down your throat. (Well, [b:The Biggest House in the World|114295|The Biggest House in the World|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320396560s/114295.jpg|110056] might be the exception.) My personal favorites are [b:Frederick|1307531|Frederick|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320405543s/1307531.jpg|1920769], [b:Fish is Fish|513828|Fish is Fish|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320425506s/513828.jpg|56648], [b:Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse|197442|Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320551595s/197442.jpg|1155445] and [b:Swimmy|114308|Swimmy|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348474037s/114308.jpg|2857646].

There exists a more recent version of this collection, that contains a couple more stories (see [b:Frederick's Fables : A Treasury of 16 Favorite Leo Lionni Stories|114298|Frederick's Fables A Treasury of 16 Favorite Leo Lionni Stories|Leo Lionni|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1223645427s/114298.jpg|3027859]) show less

I like Lionni, but not enough to buy his entire collection separately! I'm glad for the compilation.

It's true that they took out some images from his stories. However, this is something you see in *all* compilations, otherwise they wouldn't be any cheaper than buying the books separately and they'd be huge, too! So either they take out whole pages, text and all; or they cut the images down so you can hardly see them; or they do as they did here - they keep the text intact and the pictures the right size, but take out some images.

And you know what? I can live with that.

Is it a perfect solution? Nothing is. I suggest any book you're *really* attached to, you buy separately so you have it intact.

One of my favourite and most-read books as as child. Like Aesop's fables, but weirder...

Media: Collage
Genre: Fantasy
Critique: This is a fantasy story about a family of mice that speak and take on human characteristics. In this story Frederick is an example of a round character that we know a lot about. He is different then the other mice, he is thoughful, and poetic

A collection of Leo Lionni stories. Many I remember from my childhood: Frederick, Alexander & the Wind-up Mouse, Swimmy, Six Crows, and many more.