One of my earliest and favourite books of childhood nursery rhymes (which I still have) was illustrated by the Grahame-Johnstone sisters, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered that they actually illustrated a huge amount of other books! This collection of traditional fairytales was a great read, not so much because of the stories (which are expected and don’t show a lot of unique storytelling flair), but because the sisters did an excellent job of illustrating each story. I’ll never get tired of re-imaginings of traditional fairytales, as long as the illustrations give me something new, and the Grahame-Johnstones definitely do here. Throughout their characters are charming, and animals are believably anthropomorphized, and their careful attention to detail and colour scheme are excellently achieved. My favourite illustrations were those from “The Frog Prince” and “the Princess and the Pea”, because they are surprisingly reminiscent of the more adult illustrations of Kay Neilsen in their emotional quality and composition, but retained the Grahame-Johnstone’s trademark whimsical innocence. I’m definitely going to be keeping my eye out for more of their books, since they are definitely illustrators worth collecting, even if they don’t seem to have reached the critical acclaim of the earlier “golden age” illustrators. ( )

Beautiful illustrations, off-beat tales I've never seen elsewhere, darkish cast that's still approprate for actual children. Perhaps my favorite book of all time. ( )