Aesop's Fables

Lovely art if that is what you are getting it for. If you are getting it to read to you children them skip this version. I have an older edition and the language is rich, eloquent and beautiful. Why do we insist on dumbing down our children? Trust me, kids can understand dynamic language just fine. This is a poor edition.

This edition has a big omission-"The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf" is not in this version of Aesops Fables. Regarding the illustrations-all characters are depicted as animals, which is correct in many, but not all of Aesop Fables. Text accompanying each story is only fair, not really good. I would not recommend this version. There are much better, and more complete versions of Aesops Fables available.

This is an inexpensive edition of Aesop's Fables, but it is not "unabridged" or "complete".1. This book contains only 92 of Aesop's fables. Most other editions have more than 200.2. Each fable takes up less than a page. About half of them are one paragraph.3. These are not "translated from Greek" but from public editions that have been paraphrased and in many cases, paraphrased badly.4. There are only 83 pages not 96. It's a very small, very short book.5. No dialogue. I have an edition from my youth that has dialogue. Much more fun for kids.6. Few illustrations. Only about a dozen of the fables have an illustration. The rest are just crammed on the pages together, sometimes three to a page. :(Because Aesop lived centuries ago and his work is not copyright-protected you will find many really bad copies of Aesop's Fables on Amazon. I thought I'd be safe going with a large publisher, but this was a huge disappointment.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK as it bears no resemblance to Aesop's Fables. It is like someone tried to translate it to English not understanding the concept of the fables is to teach a lesson. Take this gem for example "The Fox and the Mask: A fox had stolen into the house of an actor, and as he was rummaging among the actor's possessions, he found a remarkable mask that was a fine imitation of a human head..... What a fine looking head! he cried. Pity that it lacks brains!" Yes. That is the whole story. And they are all like that. I have never returned an item to Amazon, but this will be a first.

I LOVE THIS VERSION of Aesop's Fables! The illustrations are gorgeous, and there are so many of the original tales. I buy this for every ohmigoodness-I'm-pregnant moment that my friends inevitably have. Sometimes, I will buy several at a time, just so that I have one on hand when the moment occurs.SUGGESTIONS: For the perfect children's literature additions, find a used copy of Udo Weigelt's "The Sandman" (it is sadly out of print), and also get Mary Engelbreit's "Mother Goose". Both of those books are just lovely, absolute musts!