(Part 2) Best children fairy tales books according to redditors

Terry Jones' Fairy Tales and The Beast With a Thousand Teeth?

Sounds like it might be Little Eight John by Jan Wahl! The summary of the book here matches your description. The boy does the opposite of what his mother tells him and ends up as jam.

This book isn’t African fairy tales, but classic European ones with all black characters. I love that they all had different styles of black hair in the book as well. The stories are Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, and a few more.

In addition to the great recommendations others have already made, here are a few suggestions that may be of interest:

Orkney Folk Tales - The Orkney Islands north of Scotland have an interesting mix of Nordic and Scottish cultures (mostly Nordic), and their folklore is unique and fascinating as well. I read this on a recent trip to Orkney and enjoyed it - some of the stories bear a little resemblance to classic fairy tales you might recognize, while others are completely unique.

The Water of Kane: And Other Legends of the Hawaiian Islands - I haven't actually read this yet, but it was the best-looking of the Hawaiian mythology books I found on a previous trip. The Hawaiian mythology is definitely non-western and really unique!

The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition - I know you've already got The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, but the first editions of most of these stories were quite different (and often much darker). With that in mind, this may be worth a look as well!

Scottish Fairy Belief: A History - This one may be a bit of a stretch since it's intended more as an academic resource (vs. a collection of stories), but it includes a ton of really fascinating information on perceptions of fairies in Scottish culture and mythology (many of which are very different from how we currently tend to think of fairies).

Well first, I'd check with your folks to see what happened to your old one. Growing up, a fair few of my books were passed down to my younger cousin, and while they eventually got yard sale'd, my mom did keep a couple of her favorite picture books.

If that isn't an option and you want to start fresh, I found a few omnibuses that may serve you well.

A Year Full of Stories is a collection of 52 stories, enough for one a week for a year. Stories come from around the world, and are spaced thematically, corresponding to the calendar. Diverse religious holidays and social activism remembrances are prominent. The artwork, while brightly colored, isn't terribly detailed.

Fairy Tales from Around the World is a collection of selected fairy tales from a series of smaller, regionally specific collections by Andrew Lang. Over one hundred stories here, and if I could guess, this may well be the one you grew up with.

Favorite Folk Tales From Around the World is a collection of more than 150 stories, though I feel the translation may be a bit dated, as the volume appears to have been published back in 1988. Also, I'm not sure how many pictures there'd be.

You might also look up Iain Smyth. He has a series of "pop up whodunit" books. I didn't see any involving castles, but it may jog your memory a bit. I also found this King Arthur pop-up, which has a castle but no mystery. Everything else I've found has had a supernatural theme to it...haunted castle, ghosts, monsters, etc.

Ah, cool - it is a fascinating place. I'd estimate it stretches somewhere between one to two miles of coastline but most people use the bus instead of walking and so only see a tiny portion of it - there are some key bits of interest like the organ and the Giant's Boot.
Also don't forget it's counterpart in Scotland - Fingal's Cave which lead to the story about Finn MacCool - there are lots of versions but this is the ones that I love reading to my children and is the closest to the one my wife was told as a child.

No, Bob is from the Demigod Files (specifically The Sword of Hades story). The book is a set of short stories set between various books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It contains Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot, Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon, and Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades.

The other is the Demigod Diaries. It contains The Diary of Luke Castellan, Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes, Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford, and Son of Magic.

The only stories that are ever really referenced in the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books are The Sword of Hades and The Bronze Dragon from the Demigod Files and The Diary of Luke Castellan in Demigod Diaries. Everything else, while fun, are things that are never really brought up again.

For reference, there are several other "side books" related to the Percy Jackson books. There are the crossover stories in found in the upcoming Demigods and Magicians, the Percy Jackson version of the old Greek legends in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes, and then there's the short story The Singer of Apollo in Guys Read Other Worlds. I think that's all of the books that contain side stories.

EDIT: Also, I don't think the paperback copies of The Sword of Summer will be available for a while. They usually release the paperback copies about 8-12 months after the hardcover copies.

The Enchanted Wood?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Enchanted-Wood-Original-Fairy/dp/0316770183/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I had always loved reading as a kid, so your mileage may vary, but lately I've been finding short story collections really enjoyable when I'm having trouble reading more traditional books. It's pretty sweet, because there's a lot of different genres to choose from.

The Door In The Hedge?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Door-Hedge-Robin-McKinley/dp/0698119606

The book of little folk: fairy stories and poems from around the world

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Little-Folk-Stories-Around/dp/0803714580