GIANT BOOK OF BEDTIME STORIES Hardcover – 1 Apr 2007

I will first say that I did not dislike this book. I am bibliophile, and a lover of classical english works. This book has a broad selection of nursery rhymes, stories, proverbs, and bible stories. The choices made by the author are interesting, and varied, and I found it interesting to see the orginal forms of some of the rhymes and stories I grew up with.

That being said, I feel I was generous with the rating of three stars, because this book, which claims to be for young children, does not meet the needs of today's child.

The first problem I noted was that the nursery rhymes offered in this book use language that is difficult at best for a little one to understand. Many middle-schoolers would struggle with the choice of words. Granted, I was interested reading the orginal verisons of the poems I grew up with, but I didn't buy this book for me; I bought it for my very young daughter. It will be many, many years before she will be able to comprehend or be interested in these rhymes, and by that time she may be too old to enjoy them at all.

The second problem is that many of these rhymes are obscure and would hold no meaning or interest for child of the 21st century. Rhymes about 'The Woman of Exeter' and ''Candle-Saving' aren't likely to be very understandable to a little child.

Thirdly, the stories offered by the author are also a little obscure and may be hard to follow for its intended audience. However, these, at least, can be made interesting by an intelligent 'bedtime story' reader, and a few are classics which, with a little explanation from you, your child might like.

A fourth, and probably one of the biggest, issue is that pictures are small and not particularly captivating, well-drawn, or bright. I did not find them geared toward my little girl at all, and she, normally so fasincated by visuals, paid little attention to them. As a previous reviewer pointed out, the pictures illistrating the bibical stories are, at best, uninteresting, at worst, they are dark, depressing, hard to make out, and may even frighten an especially imaginative child. All in all, the only reason I did not return this book is because it may be that some of the seniors in my family will find it fun to read the old-fashioned rhymes and because I didn't pay much for it to begin with.

If you, or your older child, are interested in classical english, you will enjoy this tome, but I would not suggest it at all for a 'bedtime' story book for your little one.

This is a great book and well worth the time and money. It is comprehensive and well versed. It is a great book. There are great pictures in it but sometimes the pictures don't always fight the story. The Bible pictures in my opinion are in poor taste. I understand they are famous paintings but I feel they are inaproprate for children to view.

We had this book in our family years ago, and I must say after seeing the other reviews I'm amazed at peoples' lack of understanding at a child's ability to absorb new words and understand the previously unknown. I had 3 children that loved many of the stories in here (not all, according to taste) but the nursery rhymes, fables, and fairy tales cover a wide range and are close to their original intent. Nothing "Disneyfied" about the fairy tales (no offense to Disney at large, but its nice when the step sisters actually get their comeuppance etc.) and stories that did not corrupt the minds for over a hundred years, but taught basic good and evil concepts.

I agree the illustrations could have been better or more numerous, but that's the only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars. For the price there's lots to choose from in this book even if you just open it at random as part of the nightly story selection process.

I have had this book since I heard my daughter's heart beat 4 yrs ago. I have read this book through several times while pregnant and after. My little one loves the rhymes, fables and the Bible stories therein. Great read for all ages.

This book brought memories of stories read to me when I was 3-7 years old. It is a great book for parents to read to their young children, which range from poetry of many countries and ages; along with stories of fantasy and lessons to be taught to children. I highly recommend it to parents who will also love the poetry and stories.