Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales

Lucy Cousins - perhaps best known for her series of picture-books about Maisy the mouse, intended for the very young child - turns her attention to the world of fairy-tales in this outsized collection, which was chosen by The New York Times as one of the "Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009." Here the reader will find seven tales - from Little Red Riding Hood to The Musicians of Bremen - all pared down from the original, and presented in an easy-to-read format, with huge text (on a huge page), and eyepoppingly colorful illustrations - a Cousins trademark. The result is a picture-book anthology that will work very well, for the youngest children.

Unfortunately, I can't say it worked very well for me, as an adult fairy-tale lover. show more I read many, many fairy and folk-tale adaptations (sometimes multiple adaptations/retellings of the same tale), because I'm always interested in the way different authors and artists interpret the same story. Naturally, I have preferences, both as it concerns the text, and the illustrations. I tend to dislike abridged versions of these classic tales, as I think they lose so much, when shortened. I also, I confess, prefer a less cartoonish style of artwork. Needless to say, Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales just didn't do it for me.

That said, I think Cousins' book succeeds at what it sets out to do - the creation of a fairy-tale collection that will hold the attention of the youngest child - so my lack of enthusiasm is more of a commentary on who I am as a reader, than on the book's actual quality, and I would recommend it to anyone seeking such a volume, for their children. I did appreciate the fact that, despite the abbreviated versions presented, Cousins kept some of the disturbing elements (the Wolf gobbling down Granny, for instance), so my reaction wasn't all negative. In the end, I guess I'm just not the right audience for this one. show less

The illustrations were super adorable, because Lucy Cousins. These well-known fairy tales are still pretty gruesome though...the big bad wolf eats little red riding hood and her grandmother and gets his head chopped off for it. I especially liked it when Big Billy Goat Gruff butted the troll into the river and then the three goat brothers ate so much that they could barely walk home. I feel you, goats. That's me after every visit to all-you-can-eat sushi. I also love every iteration of Chicken Little/Chicken Licken/Henny Penny because all the animals names are slightly different and they always make me giggle. This one had Goosey Poosey and Ducky Daddles. Ducky Daddles!!

Also, unrelated, wikipedia has just informed me that Disney made a show more WWII propaganda film in which Foxy Loxy uses knowledge gained from Mein Kampf to trick the birdies on the farm into leaving so he can eat them. They changed the title of the book to "Psychology" (lol and also ugh) but the passages he reads aloud are still from Mein Kampf. He manipulates the masses by targeting the least intelligent (Chicken Little) and "undermining the faith of the masses in their leaders". And then he KILLS THEM ALL. I don't know what the moral is supposed to be but I guess it's something like don't listen to the least intelligent among you because they are easily manipulated by the enemy"?? ANYWAY this has nothing to do with the book but now you all know slightly more about American propaganda. show less

A collection of eight classic fairy tales with accompanying illustrations. The pictures are bold and rough, almost like the work of a child. You can clearly see that the pictures are all intentional, but their intentional messiness probably helps to make them appealing to very young readers. The text on each page is simple and to the point. The stories are quick reads, making eight the perfect number of tales for the collection. Neither too long nor too short, and a variety of tales to maintain interest.

Three little pigs that get their house blown down to Goldilocks sleeping in the baby bears bed is just a sample of the short versions of classic fairy tales. I liked the abstract artwork that made this book work because the fairy tales are so well known the art work can give a new perspective for the kids.

I liked this collection because Lucy Cousins' art made these traditional tales come to life, and I got to view them in a way I never had before. Her humorous artwork perfectly matches her simplistic writing. I like that she didn't change the classic tales much at all - this would be a perfect way to introduce children to these traditional tales. I would certainly recommend it in the classroom if a teacher were doing a unit on traditional tales, or for any parent.

This is a classic fairy tale book with wonderful pictures. Some of the stories have endings that I haven't seen such as the woodman chopping off the wolfs head to reveal the grandmother he had eaten! The three little pigs purchased their hay, wood and bricks from people, and in the end when the wolf couldn't blow down the brick house, the pigs stewed him and ate him. I think the art adds a lot to these fairy tales and it was a joy to read!

After reading this book it quickly moved into my list of favorite children's books. It features classic tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Enormous Turnip, Henny Penny, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs and The Musicians of Bremen. Full of humor and drama these tales are fun for any young child however the language may be a tad to advanced for beginning readers to conquer on their own so it would be best used as a read aloud with an adult. The colors used in the illustrations are extremely bold which keeps the reader engaged. I really enjoyed re-reading these classic tales set to the unqiue illustrations of Lucy Cousins.