Luanne Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Does anybody use these? What ages/grades do you use them for? Do you read them aloud or have them read them independently? What do you think of these books? What educational value do they have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I read them aloud. I think they are good learning about stories from other cultures and I think they encourage the child to think creatively or at least offer another perspective. I primarily read them because I loved fairy tales as a child and found them very enriching to the imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plimsoll Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 We read them aloud in 2-4 grades. As an aside, I read them myself in high school. So, they are worth owning, and you and/or your children may well reread them later as adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Oh, these are wonderful. A good friend of mine had only this collection and the Bible in her house while growing up, and was still more than adequately prepared for classics as a teen and adult. I read them aloud to DD the Elder from two or three, but she was pretty advanced for her age. I've just now started reading selected stories to my 5yo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacalm Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 My oldest girl loves Lang's Fairy Books (her favorite ones are Orange, Red, Blue but she says all of them are good). She discovered these books on the shelves when she turned nine so she read them on her own. I collected these books for her. I see ds reading these books at night, too and I hear the kids discussing the tales among them. Great books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 We have the Green, Red and Blue ones so far. I bought them for my dd when she turned 9 this past summer. She's reading her way through them still (not many books keep her busy for so long!) and I fully intend to get the next 3 by Christmas (if not the rest of them). I have tried reading them aloud to her little brother (He's 6 this month.) and despite the fact that he listens to chapter books with little or no pictures, many of them are a little lost on him yet. I am going to start picking and choosing the shorter stories and try again. He loves the excerpts in WWE1. Right now we just finished the first Little House book and he begged me to read it again! :lol: We're moving along nicely in Little House on the Prairie now. I think I'll bring the blue one along on our trip this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelmorris Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 We have the blue fairy book and I read it aloud. All of my children enjoy the stories and they range in age from 1.5 to 12 :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CactusPair Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I love them as read alouds for the elementary set. The more uncommon stories from non-western sources are especially good. I think the whole collection is wonderful independent reading for older kids and adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dymphna57 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 :blush:I have to say that all of my kids like these but I hesitated buying them as I was feared they might be too young. Most of my brood were over the six year old stage so I got them free from gutenburg. At first I read them from the computer monitor and now I use my iPhone. After reading this thread I wish I had bought the hardcovers to keep on my shelf for rainy days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Both love these and I have many of them on audio from librovox as well. The Red Fairy book was recently completed so my little one got a new one for her birthday. :) They will pick up volumes of these above most other books no matter how many times they have read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 My 7yo dd just finished reading the Rainbow Fairy book and loved it. I think that one is one of the ones that is easier to read. I just finished the Lilac Fairy Book as a read-aloud to both my kids (7 and 10) and they really enjoyed it. I'm not sure how they would have done with reading that one on their own because of the language and the unusual names. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Thank you for this post. I've always wondered about these. I have girls in 2nd and 4th and a young preschooler. Which would you recommend us starting with for either independent reading or as a read aloud? Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I have tried reading them aloud to her little brother (He's 6 this month.) and despite the fact that he listens to chapter books with little or no pictures, many of them are a little lost on him yet. Darla - Try the Rainbow Fairy Book. The copy we borrowed from our library had full color pictures and the language is much simpler in this book, I think. My 7 year old just finished reading it and there is no way she could have read any of the other Fairy Books I've seen on her own. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Darla - Try the Rainbow Fairy Book. The copy we borrowed from our library had full color pictures and the language is much simpler in this book, I think. My 7 year old just finished reading it and there is no way she could have read any of the other Fairy Books I've seen on her own. Lisa I have seen that book, but hadn't given it much thought since I was planning on buying all twelve. This could be a nice gift for the little guy though. His b-day is in 9 days and a book (or a few :D) is kind of the tradition. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.love.lucy Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 i was shocked to find that my library didn't carry these.:glare: i will have to search them out at half price books because they sound wonderful. i did wish for them on pbs but it will be a while, if ever, because they're popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs.MacGyver Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I just finished taking a Folklore class in college and guess what half of the class was on....fairy tales (that were all in the Lang books that are sitting on our bookshelf upstairs) that I had never read or heard of. It was not an easy class either. And apparently Andrew Lang is very highly regarded for his collection by the people in the folk/fairy tale literary criticism circles. So, yes, I think they are a great set to have around the house. My DD is going on 11 and still whips them out when she is bored. I think she has read through every book and loved them all! If you have a set of Grimm's tales and a collection of Andersen's tales, you could have a nice discussion of the similarities and differences, the "evolution" of the stories throughout the years, whether or not they were intended for children in the beginning, are they oral tales that were written down and what effect that had on the stories, etc.. etc... point is...you can use them at any age (for "fun" when the kids are little, and as a literary genre when they are older). Enjoy them!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Just wanted to add: The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library and Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino (formerly published as part of the Pantheon collection, but now has a new publisher) are great library additions for teens and adults. Some is appropriate for younger kids, but pre-read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moniksca Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I started reading the blue fairy book on a recommendation from ambleside online for year 1. We're enjoying it very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I'm not sure how the Gutenberg edition works, but Amazon has them for the Kindle for 99 cents w/a searchable TOC. I'm torn b/c I really want the hbs. I've checked them out at the library, but I love how many of your dc have just picked them up. Maybe I'll start w/the Rainbow one. Thanks for the suggestion. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 We did them as read alouds from ages 3-6, then my dd started reading them for herself. You can google the lexile score, but I think it's something that correlates to around a 9th gr reading level. The sentences are pretty long. When I started, I would let her play in the yard while I read to her. I didn't expect her necessarily to understand the whole thing, just the jist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Does anybody use these? What ages/grades do you use them for? Do you read them aloud or have them read them independently? What do you think of these books? What educational value do they have? My children have listened to them and read them for as long as they can remember. My now-nine-year-old read one independently about two years ago, but mostly we listen to them as audiobooks. The old-fashioned sentence structure and vocabulary helps to stretch a kid's capacity to comprehend. Anything written before 1950 is going to be tough for a kid with no practice. I figure if I play these stories for them frequently enough during early childhood, when they're learning English, that more complicated language will be second nature during high school when they're trying to read HG Wells or Jane Austen or something. I personally find the stories to be pretty weird, gothic in places, random at times. That's true of all folktales, though, when you first hear them. We intuitively appreciate, say, The Three Little Pigs, because we hear it in context so often. With rarer tales and those that come from elsewhere, you have to listen a lot, and to a lot of stories, to begin to understand the value of the tales, to begin to uncover meanings. Even when you do start to understand, that understanding creeps up intuitively in your subconscious, like daylight behind a curtain, so that you find yourself one day looking at a chicken and suddenly get shivers and can't think of much more to say about those shivers than, "Baba Yaga's house!" or maybe some generalization about hollow, thoughtless, foundations of being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 If you could only order 4 of the books to start out with, which ones would you recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Lisa, they're all good. Have you looked at your library for them? Also one of the free book sites has them where you can read and print for free. Heather posted the link a while back I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Lisa, they're all good. Have you looked at your library for them? Also one of the free book sites has them where you can read and print for free. Heather posted the link a while back I think. Thanks, Elizabeth. You must have been responding while I was starting a new thread asking this very question. I really should learn to be more patient. If I read them first online, then I will know which one to buy, eh? Obviously, I never covered logic in school.:tongue_smilie: That fact escaped me. All I could think was, "Eeeww, something like that online? I need it in my hot little hand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Thanks, Elizabeth. You must have been responding while I was starting a new thread asking this very question. I really should learn to be more patient. If I read them first online, then I will know which one to buy, eh? Obviously, I never covered logic in school.:tongue_smilie: That fact escaped me. All I could think was, "Eeeww, something like that online? I need it in my hot little hand." I have the blue, red and green ones here and I think they are the first three in the series. I plan to buy them in order. Not sure what's next though. I had a list of them in order bookmarked somewhere (if it matters to you). Aha! Found it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Lang's_Fairy_Books ETA: quoted the wrong post. You knew what I meant though right? :tongue_smilie: Off to bed for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemykids Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Oh, fun! We did many of those in first, third and pre-k. They were a hit!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Does anybody use these? What ages/grades do you use them for? Do you read them aloud or have them read them independently? What do you think of these books? What educational value do they have? Fairy tales are the most basic grammar of storytelling for a civilization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrrh Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 The Red and Blue Fairy books with illustrations are online at Main Lesson It's like Gutenberg but all children's literature -- have fun! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Olders were in school for too long. But isn't one of the Lang fairy books on the logic stage reading list in TWTM? I feel certain we did this recently. He loves fairy tales, and despite not being a voracious reader, he read some of these himself, when he was fairly young, because he loved them so much. I started out reading them to him while he was playing in the bath tub : ) I have been a bit concerned about the darkness\scariness of some of the tales. Some kids are easily frightened. Mine seemed to take it is stride though. For all you fairy tale aficionados, let me describe our yearly read aloud. I've read through some long books with my grammar and logic stage kid, we did the Bible (not the King James) last year, now I am reading them the complete Grimm's Tales. There are over 200, so we do 1 or 2 a day, then our memory work. My guys love fairy tales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 i was shocked to find that my library didn't carry these.:glare: i will have to search them out at half price books because they sound wonderful. i did wish for them on pbs but it will be a while, if ever, because they're popular. My library doesn't have all of them, by any stretch, but does have a few. Not the red one, though -- maybe it used to and the copy got damaged, hmm. I checked out a few of them, and they are an interesting assortment of stories. It's obvious from the intro to the first few that he never thought he'd collect quite so many! Dover (the publisher) does sometimes have some specials/coupons, with free shipping over a certain amount, but never dirt cheap. However, what hardbacks are you all referring to? I've only seen the paperbacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Mom Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 These are my favorite editions of these classics http://www.eastonpressbooks.com/leather/product.asp?code=2014. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I checked out the Crimson Fairy Book (I think it was crimson--it was kind of pink in color) from the library. I read through most of the stories one afternoon, but I must not have been in the mood for fairy tales. They all started sounding the same after I'd read a few. It may not have been the best one to start with. I suppose I'll have to look into some of the other books, now. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 These are my favorite editions of these classics http://www.eastonpressbooks.com/leather/product.asp?code=2014. :D Those are beautiful! But yikes (!), dh would never be on board with me spending that much $$ on them. He's always teasing me about my weakness for pretty books. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 These are my favorite editions of these classics http://www.eastonpressbooks.com/leather/product.asp?code=2014. :D Are we talking $720 for the entire set? Or do I need glasses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 (edited) Are we talking $720 for the entire set? Or do I need glasses? It does sound that way, but when I went through the checkout process (because I was curious), it showed my total as $65.xx (I checked the box to pay in full). ETA: After looking again, the shipping is $4.95 per book and you receive one each month. $59.xx for the 12 books, plus the shipping. Edited October 22, 2009 by TN Mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenniferlee Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I'm pretty sure it is 59.95 for each book. It said right on the check-out page that the $59 amount was one installment. Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ok, I've looked again for the millionth time... It does sound like $59 per book, doesn't it? $60 for a book? You can find them on Amazon for much less, although they certainly don't look as lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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