SOURCE: Barron, Janet. “Frogspawn.” New Statesman and Society 6, no. 254 (28 May 1993): 40-1.

In the following review, Barron faults the selection of stories in The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales and criticizes the use of the word “modern” in the title of the anthology.

The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales is fey and sometimes feisty, but definitely a volume aimed at adults and not young children. Some of these stories would satisfy kids as bedtime beguilement, but there is an undertone of a peculiarly disturbing quality. “Modern fairy tales” is something of a misnomer. The first story in the book was written in 1839, and of the 40 stories, only 14 date from after the second world war. It is packed with princesses and frogs, dragons and demons, and strange countries where forests spring up at the drop of a comb and lakes appear through magical mirrors.

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