The Sleeping Beauty is brought to life in comic book form thanks to this illustrated version of Charles Perrault/The Brothers Grimm's famous tale...

The Classics Illustrated series was originally printed over a 30 years period - from 1941 to 1971. It introduced generations of children to some of the most famous stories ever told. In 1953 the Classics Illustrated Junior series was launched, which retold children's tales in comic book form. Now, Classic Comic Store Ltd is reprinting these publications so that a new generation of children can discover these classics tales.

Volume 5 in the Junior series is Charles Perrault/The Brothers Grimm's The Sleeping Beauty. Sadly nowhere in this collection are we told what the original publishing date was for this comic book edition, something that I'm sure would be of interest to the more mature reader.

This series is designed to get young readers interested in reading for themselves classic children's stories that would probably have been read to them as a bedtime story when they were a little younger.

Not only does this collection include The Sleeping Beauty, there is also a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Real Princess - which most people know as The Princess and the Pea.

At the back of this collection we also get a brief biography of Charles Perrault, but not one for The Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson.

What's great about this series is that it attempts to bring some of the best children's literature into the homes of children who would probably never discover the original books on their own. And, for adults who know the basics of the tale, this graphic novel will fill them in on the rest of the story.

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Darren Rea