Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Worth buying, and yes, lovely, detailed illustrations, but in short, stories do not live up to the hype. Had I stumbled upon them in person I would have been happy to find some very cute stories richly illustrated. But based on other reviews and comparisons to the likes of Beatrix Potter my hopes were set high and I prepared to receive a literary treasure. alas, I find the stories rather uninspired- like if a parent gets a creative impulse at bedtime and comes up with a decent yarn. The kids enjoy it but it's not one that gets requested frequently. And it's definitely not Beatrix Potter, whose extremely quaint and insightful tales and exquisite language have been a favorite request by all of my children. I wish I liked it more- lots of potential- I so wanted to be lost in a charming world of quaint characters and cozy scenes. Frankly I think there is a vacuousness that comes through in the modern winter-with-no-Christmas type world, leaving one with a sense of something potential yet missing-an emptiness, if you will. But that could be just my wacky theory. Anyway some kind of lack of character depth or something. Nonetheless, I'm left with my original bias, even as a relatively young person: they just don't make 'em like they used to! Buy it for the pretty pictures and nice little stories.