Cautionary Tales for Children Paperback – 2 Feb. 2017

Brilliant poems.

It was such a pleasure to read this book again. It was a staple of my childhood, and many of the hilarious (and wildly politically incorrect) verses are stuck forever in my memory, as are the quirky illustrations. Hilaire Belloc is ridiculously xenophobic, but - provided you can excuse him on the grounds that he wrote it in a very different age - wonderfully funny.This is a book for a child aged around 8-10 (and for retarded adults like me) with a good sense of humour and history,and a strong feeling for words. I gave it to the son of a friend, and was delighted to see how much he enjoyed it.

Came quickly considering it was close to Christmas. Quality was OK but I should have ordered the hardback version.

From my school days. I'm galloping up to 80 now, but have taken a chance that my lovely great granddaughter will enjoy it. World Book Day 2024.

I was disappointed to discover this is an abridged version with some tales, for example the boy who is eaten by the lion, are missing.

I loved reading this. Very enjoyable and some great life lessons!

My mother read this book to me when I was very young. She chose the tale about Jim but only knew the first 4 lines so I thought that was all there was. Many years later, this became the inspiration for me to write my own books in the same rhyming couplets style. Along with my friend who is a wonderful illustrator, we just launched the first two books in a series called Two Unlikely Friends which features animals who couldn't possibly know one another to overcome a challenge or adversity. Please take a look and I hope you enjoy them even a fraction of how much we enjoyed their creation.Ocho and Bao Bao's Masterpiece: Volume 1 (Two Unlikely Friends)Presley and Allie's African Barbeque: Two Unlikely Friends: Volume 2

The text is just as remember it from almost 60 years ago when I learnt 'Jim' by heart. I was sadly disappointed by the illustrations which are so small as to be not worth printing. The originals are much bigger in my book which I found soon after downloading this version. Despite this reservation its still ok value at 49p

Um livro sobre lições morais. Por esse motivo poderia ser um livro datado e eu não recomendaria a crianças pequenas. As maiores (e adultos) podem vir a achar graça, se gostarem do tom macabro do artista e compreenderem melhor as sutilezas do trabalho dele e se conectarem de alguma forma.Como a desobediência leva as crianças a morte, me lembrou "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", o alfabeto macabro dele.Uma constatação interessante é a sutileza e sofisticação do artista (Gorey). Neste "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", ainda na letra B, quando o texto diz que "Basil foi atacado/assaltado por ursos", lembrar que a imagem não deixa claro se é realmente isso que acontecerá. Foi um comentário que li num dos livros sobre o trabalho dele e que me passou batido quando li o alfabeto. Um fato interessante que li sobre ele é o que ele acredita ser uma obra de arte, inclusive na literatura:Gorey posits that beyond the surface meaning found in any great work of art (or literature), there is the sense that the work is "really about something else entirely..."trecho do livro "Gorey's Worlds".Fantástico!

High quality binding and print. Nice book to give as a gift (maybe a joke gift...)

Très amusant et intelligent: Il maitrise superbement la langue anglaise - mais où sont ses autres poèmes? Il faut une collection complète.

Most of the reviews here are for the Edward Gorey version of Cautionary Tales. That's a really fun book, but readers should know that Belloc's little poems are a delight even without the pictures.Kids absolutely love them and are shocked by their wit. These poems give kids credit for being sharp enough get the joke---and not need absolutely everything sugar coated. When my daughter was six she was told to come to school with a poem to recite. Most of the kids had nursery rhymes or well known American poems. My daughter brought Belloc's The Lion and The Tiger. The teacher, who knew nothing was the poems, got a huge kick out of them, expecially The Tiger with its dry recommendation that "mother's of large families who heed to common sense, will find a tiger well repays the trouble, and expense."

This is delightful in every way and laugh-out-loud fun.