This is almost THE definitive fairy tale book. It has all the tales everyone knows. My edition, unfortunately, did not have the illustrations. I was kind of appalled at the way they treated the story about the Dwarf and the princess. It mixed with what I know about the filming of the 1939 The Wizard of Oz in uncomfortable ways. But I wasn't sure if I was bringing too much of myself to the story, if you know what I mean. The metaphor in the story about Prince Hyacinth was valuable.

It is largely collected from the Western culture, but that doesn't really bother me because the rest of the series has a good amount of exposure to other cultures.

Rereading this series has been a fascinating experience. To see the differences between the cultures and the similarities. To see the odd messages, the racism and the abuse. As an adult I'm not sure that it's balanced out but, as a child, it obviously was. I'm sad about how I've aged in some ways.