A review by comradebiblio
Fairy Tales by Berlie Doherty

2.0

The illustrations in this book are enthrallingly beautiful, both I and my child love them. However, the way in which the stories are told is very disappointing, the female characters are defined primarily by their physical beauty or lack thereof, are repeatedly portrayed as essentially property of their fathers, and there is a recurrent theme of them replying 'yes' to proposals from men who have no positive characteristics. I would have hoped that a twenty-first century retelling of these fairy tales would have updated some aspects of the stories, for instance the ages at which the female characters get married could easily have been changed from fourteen to eighteen. The illustrations by contrast include racial diversity beyond that of the original stories, which demonstrates that alterations are possible and beneficial. Story-telling should adapt to the cultural changes of the times and the writing in this book fails to do so. I can no longer read these versions, but I continue to enjoy the illustrations with my child and make up alternative interpretations of the fables that are less jarringly regressive.