Snow White, by the Brothers Grimm and Camille Rose Garcia

Somebody took a lot of time and trouble to get the Camille Rose Garcia edition of the Brothers Grimm version of Snow White exactly right. The fonts are gorgeous, the page layout is exquisite, and Garcia's elaborate, swirling illustrations are displayed to their best advantage. Unfortunately, Snow White isn't one of those stories that holds up to close examination—the more time I spent lingering over each lavishly designed page, the more time I had to realize Dude, Snow White is an idiot.

I'm not going to waste time summarizing Snow White for you: suffice to say, this is the classic version, complete with [150-YEAR-OLD SPOILERS AHOY] deadly stay laces, poisoned combs, a magical apple, and an evil stepmother who meets a bad end in a pair of red-hot dancing shoes. This edition features 13 full-page illustrations and loads of smaller images, and every page is laid out so beautifully one feels the book designer should have received a front-cover credit as well.

As I said, however, Snow White just isn't worth all this effort. I'm sure there must be fairytale heroines out there who deserve such loving attention, but Snow White isn't one of them. She seems incapable of following even the most basic instructions (Don't talk to strangers, Snow White! They might be your evil witch of a stepmother in disguise!), and Garcia's images of candy-coated-creepiness don't help: it's tough to be sympathetic to Snow White falling for the soft-sell tactics of a mysterious lace seller when the “good woman” in question has FOUR EYEBALLS. GOD, WHAT AN—

Moving on.

Anyway, this edition is lovely, and if you're a big Snow White fan, or Camille Rose Garcia fan, or you can just totally shut your brain off while you enjoy the pretty colors, knock yourself out. As for the rest of you, stick with Garcia's equally colorful—and infinitely more readable—edition of Alice in Wonderland. At least that's supposed to make no sense.