An illustrated retelling in verse of ten fables by Aesop, including “The Laborer and the Nightingale,” “The Frogs Choose a King,” and “The Horse and the Donkey.”
Europe
Materials from Europe
The Goose Girl
On her way to marry a distant prince, a young princess is forced to trade places with her evil serving maid and becomes a goose girl instead of a bride when she reaches her destination.
Sleeping Beauty
When the king and queen throw a banquet in honor of the birth of their daughter, they invite all of the fairies, but one, Skura, who attends the feast, seeking revenge. She curses the baby, but her evil intentions are undone by the good fairy who instead promises years of sleep.
Persephone
A beautifully illustrated retelling of the ancient Greek myth about the seasons describes how Hades, god of the underworld, kidnaps Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter, to be his wife.
Hercules
Journey back to ancient Greece and meet the greatest hero who ever lived-Hercules! With eleven difficult tasks behind him, he now must face the last and most terrifying. To bring back the three-headed monster dog, Cerberus, Hercules must enter the Underworld-where the dead go-and come back alive!
Ophelia
As Ophelia rushes to comfort her friend Kevin, who is suffering from butterflies in the stomach, she meets up with various friends who misunderstand the problem, each one adding a new ailment and cure to the growing list.
Puss in Boots
A clever cat wins his master a fortune and the hand of a princess.
Red Ted and the Lost Things
When a teddy bear is accidentally left on the seat of a train, he uses his ingenuity–and some new friends–to search for the little girl who lost him.
The Emperor Penguin’s New Clothes
A whimsical retelling of the original Hans Christian Andersen classic features an entire court of pop-eyed penguins who are fooled by a deceitful weaver and unwilling to admit to their posturing leader that he has nothing on.
Count Silvernose
The two younger daughters of an old washerwoman are lovely, foolish, and useless, while the oldest is homely, clever, and strong. When the two younger sisters disappear and are reported dead, Assunta resolves to discover the truth and rescue her sisters.