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Rating: 
Summary: Some good points, but really "educational theory"ish.
Review: I just learned that the author is some sort of bigshot psychologist somewhere. I suppose that should not surprise me. This book is full of modern American "education theory" and all sorts of pop child-psychology tidbits, and it grated on me immensely.Kirkus Reviews put it best, and to that review, I will add this: Fairy tales were not written for children originally. The oldest, the most beloved ones, were written by glittering, fashionable adults, for equally glittering and fashionable adults. They're gruesome, complex, complicated, and sometimes they just don't have morals, other than the beauty of a well-told story. Sometimes they have lots of morals. They're like life, which also can be gruesome, complex, complicated, morality-laden or morality-bankrupt. But one thing they weren't, and that was kid stuff. It took the Victorian age to turn fairy tales into morality-laden warning stories, and the modern age to sanitize fairy tales into kid stuff, and Cashdan has taken that sanitization one step further, by insisting that parents can ego-search their kids using these tales as launching points. He takes complex and beautiful stories like Snow White and reduces them to one-line Sailormoon-style morals, tacking them onto the story like fig leaves on Greek statues ("Don't be vain!"). Chapters explore each "sin", with suggestions for parents on how to use the suggested fairy tales to explore those "sins". (Apply X story to Y child for Z condition, and voila! Kid is fixed! What better way to illustrate the shortfalls of modern education theory?) Cashdan does make some interesting points, in all that psychobabble -- I loved reading about his thoughts on why the bad guys have to die in these stories, why the stories *are* so violent. Honestly, that's why I bought the book, and I wasn't disappointed at all with it because he does explore those issues in detail. But there's a lot of New Agey stuff to wade through to get to it. I'd consider it a useful and thought-provoking addition to a fairy-tale researcher's library, but not a must-have resource.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: I read the book because of the interesting title and found it an excellent choice. It seems that it has been emphasized for it educational purpose, but I took it more entertaining and interesting. Something that just makes one think, sheds a new light on tales that are so familiar to so many of us. Whether or not the author is correct in all his theories (no one really ever is) I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them. I've read several other books on similar topics but none have held my interest like this one. Very well written in my opinion. Regardless of what the reviews say, pop into a bookstore to give it a peek for yourself. It's not necessarily what people are making it seem like.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: TWMD is an enjoyable read for one who wishes to look deeper into classic fairy tales. The suggestions for using these stories to teach morals to children seem practical and valid. I agree less though with Cashdan's theories on mythology. Viewing fairy tales only as a tool to teach morals discounts more scholarly works on mythology, such as those of Jung and Campbell which demonstrate the role of the subconscious and the ways similar myths are formed in different cultures of the world.
Rating:
Summary: Good read, but I don't agree with all the theories
Review: TWMD is an enjoyable read for one who wishes to look deeper into classic fairy tales. The suggestions for using these stories to teach morals to children seem practical and valid. I agree less though with Cashdan's theories on mythology. Viewing fairy tales only as a tool to teach morals discounts more scholarly works on mythology, such as those of Jung and Campbell which demonstrate the role of the subconscious and the ways similar myths are formed in different cultures of the world.
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