The Fisherman and His Wife

March 1, 2008
K-Gr 4-As she did with "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "The Princess and the Pea" (both Putnam, 2007), Isadora has taken a tale of European origin and set it against a generic African backdrop, with no country, tribe, or culture specified. This is problematic as such treatment does nothing to enlighten children about the rich diversity that exists on this vast continent. This is a separate issue from the quality of Isadora's illustrations, which meet her usual standards. Using oil paints, printed paper, and palette paper, she has created dramatic, textured collages, intense in color and rich in detail. The spreads reflect an increasingly dark and angry sea as the wife's demands become more and more outrageous. The text is spare and minimal, with none of the lyrical language found in other retellings, such as Randall Jarrell's classic (Farrar, 1980; o.p.) with breathtaking illustrations by Margot Zemach. Younger readers may find this version more accessible, but all of the drama is in the art."Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2008
As she has with previous books, The Princess and the Pea and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (both, 2007), Isadora takes stories from the Brothers Grimm and adapts them for agenerically African setting.The fishermanfrees a flounder and gets a wish. Then his wife makes himcontinually upthe ante: her new hut must becomea castle; then she wants to be king, emperor, pope! The highly patterned collage pictures dont really capture the scope of her ambitions, which seem more European than African, but their shaped and sculptured beauty is arresting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)