Review: Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls for inspiring young readers

This autumn I’ve bought the same birthday present three times. The present-buying has been a result of my review of a new title – Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls (Usborne, £12.99).

In recent years, there has been an array of books published to empower girls, and Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girlsis another welcome addition to this red-hot girl power book category. We received the book to review before it was published in September, and it is a collection of eight fairy tales where female heroines are leading the way and showing off their cleverness whether it is fighting a giant, defeating a goblin or rescuing a prince.

I hadn’t previously considered that popular fairy tales regularly feature male heroes, but I think many girls will find this unique female-focused fairy-tale collection inspiring. I like that it sets out to provide a more balanced representation of fairy tale heroes and heroines, and it’s interesting to discover different fairy tales from the ones that are repeated in several books on our bookshelf.

The fairy tales in the collection–researched by Usborne’s writer and fairy tale expert Lesley Sims–are based on stories from Northern Europe, and each features a note about its origin at the start.

The fairy tales have been rewritten by Lesley Sims, Susanna Davidson, Rob Lloyd Jones, Andy Prentice and Rosie Dickins, and the illustrations are by Isabella Grott, Alessandra Santelli, and Maria Surducan. The book features a foreword by Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World author Kate Pankhurst.

The language and combination of illustrations and text makes Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls a suitable read for young readers, and it is also a book that I think many will enjoy reading aloud to children. Since it’s a beautiful hardcover book with bright and colourful illustrations, I think it’s made for a wonderful present to 7 and 8-year-old girls.

Tags: Books, Children's books, Fairy tale, Review, Usborne