Retold by: Vivian French
Illustrated by: Peter Malone
This book of fairy tales is all about the magic. In the forward by Vivian French she explains how fairy tales should show children that anything is possible and let their imagination fly with stories of magic. Every story was chosen specifically for its magical element, and then the magic that was there was enhanced. This anthology includes the fairy tale favorites: Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, The Fisherman and His Wife, Beauty and the Beast, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella. This book of stories is for the child in everyone who wants to see good triumph and to pretend for just a little while that they live in a magical place with fairy godmothers, magic castles, and bit of gold.
In Jack and the Beanstalk, Vivian French tells of a mischievous little boy who believed in magic more than money. French doesn't shy away from the truth, though. Jack severely worried his mother. She had a house to pay for and food to buy, and the money she had been counting on would no longer be coming in. French shows the mother's worry by her words and Peter Malone illustrated it beautifully. By doing this, they transform Jack form just an adventurous kid looking for trouble and climbing the beanstalk to a kid who is trying to right a wrong, his wrong. He climbed once, found a solution for their problems, and, even though his mother worried even more, climbed back up two more times to retrieve all of his father's stolen possessions. That was the other aspect that was new for me. I thought Jack stole the gold from the terrifying giant, but in this version, everything had been his father's, but had been stolen years ago. French tells how Jack simply repossessed his father's prized possessions. Peter Malone is not without credit for this story. His illustrations make the giants come to life, and Jack's escape from the giant in the end is nerve-racking and hair-raising, just as it should be. The text supports this fear and the fear of the giants by increasing the font for the giant's roar and reverting short choppy bits for Jack's perilous descent. However, the first two times Jack climbed down the beanstalk were quite fun, as any good slide is, and again the text showcased this with a winding downward "WEEEEEE!"
Magic and love are the focus of this telling of Beauty and the Beast. From a magic castle that gives Beauty her every desire to a magic ring that can transport people in their sleep, this telling brings the magic of the story to the forefront. The place of crimson roses in this story creates a beautiful picture. All Beauty wants from her father on his travels is a crimson rose, as he is recently broke, and this is something he might actually be able to get. He sees a garden blooming with roses in the magic castle in which he has sought refuge and picks one for his daughter. However, as soon as he does so, the beast appears and accuses him of stealing. And the story moves into the traditional plot of Beauty staying with Beast to pay for her father's crimes. Throughout the story she spends much of her days in the garden, and then at the end when the beast changes to the prince and they declare their love for each other the "stars burst into glittering showers of gold, and rose petals cascaded out of the sky until the ground was covered in scented crimson petals." These words together with the illustration of the event (stars bursting into golden trumpets playing and petals shooting from the trumpets like a visual element of sound) truly make the reader feel the magic coming right off of the page.
The final story in the anthology, "Cinderella", encompasses it all. It's such a wonderful way to end the anthology. There is a rags-to-riches story, magic, and true love; how could a fairy tale be any better? My favorite quote from the entire book came from this story. After the fairy godmother performs her first trick and Cinderella looks shocked, the fairy godmother responds, "Tut tut...Don't tell me you've never seen magic before." I think this quote sums up the point of fairy tales; in some way or other we've all seen magic, even if it was just in our dreams. Another theme throughout this story is time. The clock that hangs over the town plays a huge part in the plot line and often interrupts the text with a "TICK TOCK- TICK TOCK- TICK TOCK..." I love that this is the last story because times up for the book, and those who read it will get older, but the magic continues as permanent as that clock; it ticks on, and those of us who grow with it, won't lose it.
Magic is a lovely thing. I remember dreaming as a child that I was Beauty and one day I'd meet my beast, fall in love, and then he'd turn into the most handsome prince. Magic like in the fairy tales wasn't something I had seen, but it wasn't beyond the realm of reality. When I got a little older, I would dream of exploring far away places, and the trees I'd climb would take me into the heavens to hide from giants or across the monkey to bars and over the sea to a lost island. And who didn't imagine when they were forced to clean their room that a fairy godmother would show up, do all the work for them, and send them off to a party in a carriage wearing a fancy dress?! Fairy tales were something we were raised hearing, and along the way that belief in magic that we had faded. But I wouldn't say it disappeared. At least not for me. I read these stories, looked at the pictures, and dreamed.
For those who need a little reminder of the magic in this world: Click Here
Courtney, Ok, I know we're not supposed to say, "I loved your review"...but, I LOVED this review!! Oh my goodness, more than anything right now, I'd like to grab a copy of The Kingfisher Book of Fairy Tales and read the rest of the day away. The way you interwove the theme of magic throughout your review was, well, spellbinding. You really got to the heart of this collection and the importance of the magical world of make-belief. I'm beginning to understand more clearly now why it is important to have students predict what's going to happen in a story during a read-aloud; it builds that sense of wonder and excitement when dealing with the unknown. I can tell that this book really struck a chord with you because your excitement virtually jumps through the screen! And then, when I thought I couldn't get any more excited about the magic of fairy tales and was happily reliving childhood memories, you perk my curiosity with the "Click Here" link. Bravo my friend! This was one awesome review.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME POST!!! I like how you picked classics. These are stories we have all grown up with and love to hear again and again. Stories featuring magic are staples in stories we read in America, I think. That being said, we have all heard these stories before. So, if I was writing the book, I would make the illustrations awesome and fresh. And like how you pointed out, I would add textual things like the "Weee!" and the "tick-tock". That way, not everything is the same-old, same-old. I love how you analyzed the book, like picking up that Cinderella was the last story and why that might have been done. Very insightful. There seems to be only 7 stories in this book, but those 7 chosen stories make the book awesome. This book seems like a great choice to study versions of stories. What a great resource for students to use to compare and contrast stories! And I could feel your excitement as you wrote. You made me want to go back and read these stories again. And watch Disney's Beauty and the Beast (one of my favorite movies). Way to go!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCourtney, as I see you've heard, this was a fantastic blog post! You're descriptions of the stories are well written and thoughtful. In addition, your personal touches to the post mad it even more enjoyable to read. This book also sounds fantastic. As described, it has many of the classic fairy/folk tales, which seems like it would make the book great to introduce the concept to elementary students. Since it does have many of the classics, I'm sure you could find alternate versions to help students compare writing styles, points of views, etc. For example, one book I received from Dr. Johnson is titled Trust Me, Jack's Bean Stock Stinks!, and is the story of Jack and the Bean Stock from the perspective of the giant. Something like this seems like it would great to use for a lesson; read the regular story from this book one day, and the book a mentioned the other and allow discussion. I'm sure similar versions (both book and film) could be found, and more great lessons could be thought up!
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