Bargain Book Find

I’m not as big of a thrift store shopper as a lot folks out there, but when I do make it to Goodwill, I usually hit up the book department.  There are real deals to be had, but you have to dig (hey, it’s Goodwill, remember?) Last year I found this gem:

The Children’sTreasury of Fairy Tales by Andrews McMeel Publishing

What drew me to it initially were the glorious illustrations, like this one from “Beauty and the Beast”

  

The reason I ended up deciding to purchase the book though wasn’t because of the illustrations: it was the text itself that drew me in.  This is a book made for young readers, probably targeted at readers in the first – third grade range.   It has a nice balance of text with pictures – enough words on the page to not appear “babyish”, but the 20 pt font keeps the pages from getting too overcrowded with text. 

Here’s an example from The Three Little Pigs: 

Now that she’s a bit older, Kindergarten Kiddo can read the stories by herself.  Here she is reading to her doll this morning:

The words used in the retelling of these classic tales are simple without being infantile.  More difficult words appear often enough in each tale to give young readers frequent chances to encounter and practice these words, but not so often that their use feels contrived (as often happens in basal readers or most books marketed toward parents of emerging readers). 

Sadly, this book is no longer in print.  It originally retailed for $40, but you can get used copies of it on amazon.com for as little as $4, shipping included.  I think I paid about $5 for this at my neighborhood Goodwill.   

Happy Reading!