The+Fairy+Tales

**Summary/Review**
This book is a collection of four classic fairy tales. In this collection there are three stories from the Grimm brothers; //Sleeping Beauty, Snow White// and //Hansel and Gretel//. Also included in this book is //Cinderella// by Charles Perrault. These classic European fairy tales were translated into English by David Walser. However Jan Pienkowski brought these stories together and gave them new life with his innovative silhouette technique. The silhouette illustrations renew these loved stories in a beautiful and unique way. The stories are told in simple language that children can easily read and understand. However the best part of this book is the illustrations for the stories. The images look like intricately detailed shadow puppets occasionally combined with bright splashes of color. Both children and adults will admire the beauty of these illustrations.

**Author/Illustrator Bio.**
Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw in 1936. The war caused his family to move around Europe throughout his childhood. They finally settled in England in 1946. He went to school for the first time there and learned English. Later he attended King's College, Cambridge. He co-founded a greeting card company and has also worked in advertising and publishing. He started out only illustrating children's books in his spare time but eventually illustrating would become his focus. He won the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal in 1972 for his silhouette illustrations to Joan Aiken's **The Kingdom Under The Sea.** [1]

** Other Works **
// In the Beginning, A River of Stories: Tales and Poems from Across the Commonwealth, The First Christmas, Necklace of Raindrops, Nut Cracker, The Thousand Nights and One Night, MEG and MOG stories, Nursery books, Dinner Time, Little Monsters, The First Noel, The Animals Went in Two by Two, Pizza!, Haunted House. // [2]

**Awards**
Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal [1]

**Historical Context**
//The Fairy Tales// was published in February 2000.

**Major Themes**
Love, adventure, magic.

**Links**
[] [1] [] [2]