The Helen Oxenbury Nursery Story Book

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

This collection of ten tried-and-true nursery stories is very British in both tone and illustration, and none the worse for that, since these are traditional European tales. There is no misguided attempt at innovation here. Who, after all, could seriously hope to improve upon the versions of “The Three Little Pigs,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” or “Little Red Riding Hood” that every English-speaker knows and loves? In this interpretation, big, friendly coloured plates feature familiar fairy-tale figures in a manner that will not alarm even the most timid of beginning readers. Wolves and trolls may be large, but they are not really fierce, and there is no doubt at all that virtuous huntsmen and Billy Goats will triumph in the end. A pleasant collection, copiously illustrated, with a simple text in outsize print.