Brothers Grimm

Dec 29 2011

Little Red Cap by Brothers Grimm,Lisbeth Zwerger (Illustrator)

We haven’t discussed a Lisbeth Zwerger book here in a while so as we head toward 2012 lets sneak in one more book.  I picked up Little Red Cap – the story most people know as Little Red Ridding Hood – recently and, not surprisingly, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Children’s Literature review:

This is a reissue of the book that originally was published in 1987. It is a version of the beloved tale of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Once again, children become acquainted with the charming little girl who always wears the red cap that was given to her by her grandmother. One day while on her way to visit her ailing grandmother, she meets the sly and cunning wolf in the forest. He persuades her to wander off the path and gather some flowers for her grandmother, while he rushes to grandmother’s house and gobbles her up. He then pretends to be grandmother and also devours Little Red Cap. Of course, the brave and clever hunter saves both the old lady and Little Red Cap. Zwerger’s beautiful illustrations are an ideal accompaniment to the text as they portray the characters (especially the wolf) with depth and emotion. All libraries should add this to their fairy tale collection.

Unlike some of the other volumes I have covered, this one is perfect for reading out loud. The pages alternate between text – without any unique fonts – and illustrations.  Zwerger offers her reliably evocative and playful illustrations that compliment this classic so well.

As noted above, the wolf  is particularly charming with a variety of facial expressions to match his deviousness as he tricks the innocent, and naive, Red Cap. Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Dec 3 2010

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

A Tale Dark and Grimm is a book right in my wheelhouse, as they say.  After reading a review in the NYTBR, I quickly added this to the TBR pile.  Young adult fantasy fiction, fairy tales and folklore, quirky sense of humor, etc. What’s not to like, right? I soon grabbed it for my Kindle and started reading.

It turned out to be a sort of Lemony Snicket take on the Brothers Grimm. Gidwitz reworks a variety of Grimm Fairy Tales with Hansel and Gretal as the lead characters while adding his own sarcastic and ironic commentary along the way.

As is so often the case, I was a bit torn about the end result.
Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Nov 5 2010

Added to the TBR: A Tale Dark & Grimm

Marjorie Ingall’s review of A Tale Dark and Grimm has me wanting to read it immediately:

“A Tale Dark & Grimm,” by Adam Gidwitz, is something else entirely. In fact, it’s unlike any children’s book I’ve ever read. If “Reckless” is an old-school fairy tale fantasy, and “The Grimm Legacy” is a modern one, “A Tale Dark & Grimm” is a completely postmodern creation. It plunks Hansel and Gretel into a succession of other, lesser-known Grimm tales — “Faithful Johannes,” “The Three Golden Hairs,” “Brother and Sister” and more — but creates a narrative through-line that wends through all the tales like a trail of bread crumbs. Parents do horrible things; they fail their children, and they kill them. But Hansel and Gretel become true heroes — they go on a quest; they save others; they come home; they learn to understand their parents’ burdens and failings. Heavy. And yet “A Tale Dark & Grimm” is really, really funny. The first line is “Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome.”

The tone ricochets between lyrical and goofy. There’s an intrusive, Snicket-y narrator who warns the reader every time gore is imminent, apologizing, urging the reader to hustle the little kids out of the room. And it all works. As the story progresses, it gets less and less faithful to the source material and becomes its own increasingly rich and strange thing. A Child’s Garden of Metafiction! It reminds me of Eudora Welty’s “Robber Bridegroom,” in which bits of fairy tales, myths, legends and Southern folklore are stitched together into a marvelous new . . . something.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Mar 12 2009

Little Mook & Dwarf Longnose by Wilhelm Hauff

little-mook

I stumbled upon this interesting little book, [amazon-product region="us" text="Little Mook & Dwarf Longnose" type="text"]1567922228[/amazon-product] (part of the Pocket Paragon Book series), at a library sale.  Given my interest in fairy tales and young adult fiction I thought it would be worth the quick read.  This past weekend I pulled it out and read one afternoon.  It was worth it just for the introduction by one of the translators Thomas S. Hansen.

William Hauff’s life was cut short- from overwork and exhaustion no less – at the age of twenty-five but he still managed to leave a legacy behind.  And among German speaking children his fairy tales are second only to the famous Brothers Grimm.  The two stories in this collection are meant as an introduction to his work.

Booklist does a great job of capturing the slim volume:

This petite double feature celebrates nineteenth-century German fantasist Hauff, an unsung contemporary of the Brothers Grimm. Like others in the publisher’s Pocket Paragon series, the book is a pleasure to hold and behold, featuring rich, glossy stock, decorative embellishments, and beautifully reproduced artwork. Though the story “Little Mook” gets top billing, “Dwarf Longnose” is probably better known due to earlier versions illustrated by both Maurice Sendak and Lizbeth Zwerger. The two stories, though, have much in common, each chronicling the adventures of a small, physically odd character who carves his place in the world by dint of cleverness, good-heartedness, and fairy-tale magic. It’s a theme that holds allure for many children, although the high ratio of text to visuals (Russian illustrator Pak’s striking tempera paintings appear only once every five or so pages) makes it most suitable for sharing with middle-graders. The cogent preface by co-translator Thomas S. Hansen will enlighten college-level students of comparative lit, who will enjoy encountering this elegant volume in their libraries as much as Hauff’s intended audience.

The Little Mook involves a poor dwarf forced to make his way in the world alone and penniless.  He finds work with a bizarre cat lady and then stumbles upon a magic staff and slippers. These magic tools help him to find work in a kings court only to have the jealousy of those around him form his undoing.

The second story tells the tale of how a once beautiful young boy is kidnapped and turned into a long nosed dwarf by a witch.  He escapes but no one recognizes him in his deformed state.  He finds work as a chef for a duke only to have his life threatened by a neighboring prince.  With the help of princess who had been turned into a goose he finds his old form and escapes and returns to his family.

The stories themselves, while entertaining, are probably more interesting as part of the history of fairy tales and German folklore than as bedtime stories for your kids (not that they wouldn’t serve that purpose).  But for me the useful intro and the art work, when added to the stories, made it easily worth the two dollars I paid for it.

An odd, yet educational, little find.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , ,