Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The World Treasury of Children's Literature

The World Treasury of Children's Literature
celeria avatar reviewed on + 174 more book reviews


This two-volume set is full of stories of all kinds: nursery rhymes, Aesop's fables, and modern classics like Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House, Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, and Watty Piper's The Little Engine that Could. Clifton Fadiman says in his introduction that these two volumes are aimed at younger readers -- "say from four to eight," but that his aim is uncertain and that there's really no such thing as an eight-year-old reader. These are stories for all ages, and classics that can grow with a child. There's also a section called "Some Good Writers Who Don't Appear in These Books," a three-page list of other authors that readers might enjoy. I highly recommend this set. Clifton Fadiman also edited a Book Three of this treasury, aimed at readers age nine to fourteen or so.