"Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales" By Lucy Cousins Candlewick, $18.99, ages 4-8 ( Candlewick Press) (#ISBRChildrensBooks)

The illustrations are great: large and bright. I read this book to my 2.5 year old twins and it holds their attention.

Some reviews said that the illustrations were "graphic". I disagree - I thought that the illustrations were funny,amusing and very child-friendly. The one in Red Riding Hood where grandma's legs are sticking out of the wolf's mouth (singled out by one reviewer as scary) made my girls giggle and they were not bothered by the "violence" some reviewers alleged was present in the stories one bit.

I was very happy with the size of the book: large, bigger than A4 format. That makes it easy to read to multiple children at the same time at bedtime. The book cover is sturdy and can withstand "toddler love". Pages are easy to turn for the little hands as well.

I realize that, in our society, classic stories (by Brothers Grimm,Perro, etc) are perceived as violent, which is true for some. But the stories in this book are not: evil is punished, and good prevails, there is no blood, gore, or anything that is disturbing to little kids. Yes, the wolf eats the grandma and Red Riding Hood, but they magically appear in the end unscathed.

Lucy Cousins' presentations of 8 familiar fairy tales are "yummy," because food and eating, necessary and communal activities, are central, whether it's in the familiar "Little Red Riding Hood" or the less-known "The Enormous Turnip," where the turnip becomes "an enormous feast" for the family, pets and even the household mouse. The wolf eats Little Red and her grandmother, but after they are rescued by a passing hunter, all three sit down to enjoy the food in the basket Little Red had been carrying. It's also yummy because even the ferocious characters-- the usual bad lot of wolves and trolls-- are so cheerily depicted in the style familiar to children from Cousins' "Maisy" books that they lack the creepy edges of traditional tales for older readers. The various animals all have some part of their costume in brightly colored, spotted, striped or flowered clothing, a sort of Marimekko nation. "The Bremen Town Musicians" might be especially resonant to children because initially the animals each feel "Nobody loves me," a not unfamiliar playground sentiment. Parents who have been wondering about fairy tales for their young children might take a look.