While I wouldn't agree with some of the Fairy Stories being read to very small children, generations of children have read these stories for themselves, and remember them with fondness. Children also learn from these stories that the world is not a perfect place, and also learn to accept that there are people in the world who are much smaller than the general population, and that there are people with different coloured skins to themselves. As young children they accept these differences mostly without question, which stands them in good stead when they come to adulthood. Most prejudice is instilled by adults who ought to, but often, don't know any better. Children don't see things in the same way that adults do. Only last week I read a letter from a grandmother, saying that her 7yr old grandson had asked if he could bring his schoolfriend home for tea, and was told that he could. She went on to say that on the appointed day, she opened the door to discover that the little friend was a black-skinned child. Her grandson hadn't considered it important enough to mention. The boy was his friend and that was enough for him. It makes one think that it's the adults who have the wrong ideas, and not the children.