I’m not sure how helpful Arthur’s Really Helpful Bedtime Stories are, but I do know that our copy is well worn. Marc Brown’s twists on familiar fairy tales kept my children amused and asking for more.
The book contains ten familiar fairy tales but told with characters from the world of Arthur. Not only do the characters like D.W. take the place of the fairytale characters like Little Red Riding Hood, but they maintain their own personalities as well. So we have D.W. being stubborn and saving Grandma Thora from the wolf. In “The Three Little Pigs” Binky sides with the straw building pig. Arthur helps the second pig with his house of sticks, and the Brain helps the third pig build a house of bricks with reinforced concrete foundation and steel I-beams. Muffy stars as the spoiled princess in “The Frog Prince”. Francine is the bedraggled princess in “The Princess and The Pea”. D.W. also stars as herself in a version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. Here D.W. is a little girl “who often did the opposite of what she was told”.
These tales are best enjoyed by children who know the original versions of the fairy tales and who are also Arthur fans. They will appreciate the twists in these fun stories. Each page has large brightly colored illustrations featuring pigs, bears, and the characters from Marc Brown’s Arthur series along with decorated borders.
Other tales include Buster and the Beanstalk, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Lion and the Mouse, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Puss in Boots.
I enjoyed reading these to my children. The stories maintain the character of classic fairy tales with some fun new surprises. I also appreciated that the stories were short enough for all three boys to pick out a favorite to hear without making story time go too long.
Also See:
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs – by A. Wolf, as told to Jon Scieszka
Fairy Tales with a Spin – the Picture Books of David Gordon