Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. Little Red Riding Hood. Puss in Boots. Blue Beard. Hop O’My Thumb.

Choose one you love or one you’ve never read aloud, and share it with your children today in honor of Charles Perrault’s birthday. He was born in Paris in 1628 to a wealthy family, and he grew up to become a lawyer, a civil servant, and a man of letters. At age 55, he published a book of moral stories adapted from folk tales subtitled Tales of Mother Goose. The beloved tales above were included in this volume, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Beautiful picture book versions of Perrault’s fairy tales (probably adapted from the Perrault versions):
Cinderella by Marcia Brown
Cinderella by Susan Jeffers
Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman
Sleeping Beauty by Trina Schart Hyman
Puss in Boots by Paul Galdone