Cinderella, the classic rags to riches story, has been named the nation’s favourite fairy tale.
The famous tale has topped a new poll, seeing off competition from other popular stories, including Jack and the Beanstalk and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The survey, which asked 1000 parents of 4 to 8 year olds to vote for their favourite fairy tale, was commissioned to mark the launch of Storytime this September – a major new national magazine for children. Storytime will be published monthly and is packed with classic well-loved stories for parents to read and share with their children.
Cinderella came out on top, with 14% of mums and dads choosing it as their favourite. In 2nd place was Jack and the Beanstalk with 9.5% of the vote.
The poll also found that there is a clear divide between the favourites of mums and dads. Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Rapunzel all made the mum top 10, while dads voted in The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, and Hansel and Gretel.
The top five in the overall poll were Cinderella in first place, Jack and the Beanstalk in second, Goldilocks and the Three Bears in third, Snow White in fourth, and The Gingerbread Man in fifth.
Storytime magazine, which commissioned the survey, said the findings show that the classic fairy tales we know and love from childhood still endure today. Maxine Stinton, editor of Storytime, explained “A good fairy tale never goes out of fashion. With Storytime magazine, we hope that parents will thoroughly enjoy revisiting and sharing favourite tales from their own childhoods, plus discovering some new ones, and that – in turn – we help make happy Storytime memories for their own children.”
