Winner of the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award
"A charming book about enchantment, a profound book about fairy tales."тАФJohn Updike, The New York Times Book Review
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Bruno Bettelheim was one of the great child psychologists of the twentieth century and perhaps none of his books has been more influential than this revelatory study of fairy tales and their universal importance in understanding childhood development.
Analyzing a wide range of traditional stories, from the tales of Sindbad to тАЬThe Three Little Pigs,тАЭ тАЬHansel and Gretel,тАЭ and тАЬThe Sleeping Beauty,тАЭ Bettelheim shows how the fantastical, sometimes cruel, but always deeply significant narrative strands of the classic fairy tales can aid in our greatest human task, that of finding meaning for oneтАЩs life.