An important cultural tradition that spans the centuries, fairy tales and folktales also serve as a link to our own childhoods, making them particularly enjoyable to share with younger readers. This handsomely produced anthology includes 50 stories by such authors as Hans Christian Andersen ("The Tinderbox," "The Brave Tin Soldier"), Charles Perrault ("Red Riding Hood"), the Brothers Grimm ("Snow White"), Oscar Wilde ("The Selfish Giant"), Robert Louis Stevenson ("The Touchstone"), and Andrew Lang ("The Snake Prince"). Here too are tales from Native American cultures and from such locales as Norway, Russia, Flanders, Australia, India, and Japan. Dramatic and vividly colored, Fausto Bianchi's digitally altered watercolors illustrate most of these tales, while his elegant silhouettes grace the texts.