The Rainbow Book of Nursery Tales

The artist has chosen 26 (largely European in origin) ‘nursery’ tales which she divides into sections – Boys and Girls, On the Farm, All Creatures Great and Small, Dwarves and Giants, Fairy Land, Princes and Princesses, and Magic – corresponding to the seven colours of the rainbow. Overall the tellings are accessible and easy on the ear though I found a few, most notably ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, somewhat over elaborate, and Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’ seems out of place in this collection.

Colourful and vibrant the book certainly is, and the oil pastel illustrations have an obvious child appeal but some of the spreads, where large blocks of the rainbow colour are used as a background to carry the text, seem to me to result in visual overload. All in all though, a jolly collection for bedtime or storytime and certainly good value for money.