I really love this whole series.

The books are well-organized for actually doing the patterns and actually contain the information needed for some of the more unusual stitches that are used. The pictures help a ton as well--they might not be needed for the very advanced, but I don't generally do very well without a few ideas of what things are supposed to look like along the way, and I'm grateful for them.

The inclusion of the stories before the patterns added a new level to this. It's now not just useful for the patterns, it feels like a book I actually want to keep around. The mix of stories included was interesting as well--not just the "basic" Grimm stories, but a few I wasn't terribly familiar with ("The Hare and the Hedgehog," anyone? I had forgotten about this completely.)

I get the idea that this is intended to be at least partially for those who crochet and have small children (these would be fun for telling the story, I bet) or those who have children of an age where they might learn how to crochet (the combination of comfortable patterns and stories would probably make it easier), but I enjoyed this quite a bit and I don't fall into either category. I have started a beanstalk and intend to make myself a Jack to go along with it, and I'll probably do several of the others as well (the witch is adorable and would probably look cute by my punch bowl for Halloween).

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.