Feathers, Paws, Fins, and Claws
Fairy-Tale Beasts
گزارش تخلف
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
August 31, 2015
In a collection fit for both academic audiences and younger readers curious about the history of tales they thought they knew, Schacker and Jones gather 10 animal-centric fairy tales from around the globe, altering the stories as little as possible—many of these translations and retellings date to the late 19th century, though the tales themselves can be older. Among the most familiar stories are “The Story of the Three Bears” (this version dates to 1890 and features a rude old woman instead of a nosy blonde girl) and the Norwegian tale “East o’ the Sun, West o’ the Moon.” Kusaite’s expressively drafted pencil illustrations lavish attention on the fur, feathers, and scales of the majestic, mysterious creatures at the heart of these stories. Ages 8–15.
July 1, 2015
Ten "vintage tales" chosen to challenge assumptions that fairy stories offer cut-and-dried values and life lessons for, specifically, children. Reaching for an audience that is, as the editors put it, "beyond childhood," the collection is introduced with an eye-opening analysis of "Little Red Riding Hood" (Perrault's actual wording, it seems, hints that Little Red and the wolf weren't exactly strangers) as part of a broad claim that fairy tales are often transgressive. The ensuing mix of original and traditional stories, all either written or first translated into English in the Victorian era, includes tales both familiar and un-. There's "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon"; "Ballad of the Bird-Bride," which is a selkie variant featuring a sea gull; a "Puss-in-Boots" antecedent ("Costantino Fortunato") from 16th-century Italy; and a Punjabi tale about a rat who almost parlays a bit of found root into marriage to a princess. For younger readers, the highlight is likely to be Joseph Jacobs' rendition of "The Story of the Three Bears," as the home invader is not Goldilocks but a foulmouthed old homeless woman. But the selections are held up more for analysis than enjoyment, even Madame d'Aulnoy's "Babiole," which makes for labored reading despite an eponymous princess who spends most of the tale as a monkey. Kusaite's visual jumbles of patterns and textures are as mannered as the 19th-century prose. Provocative fare for students of the themes and tropes of literary and traditional folk literature. (source notes) (Fairy tales. 14 & up)
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