The Twelve Dancing Princesses - Hardcover

Naomi Lewis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080370237X ISBN 13: 9780803702370

Publisher: Dial, 1986

Synopsis

A collection of fourteen fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, including "The Donkey," "The Mongoose," "Iron John," and "Jorinda and Joringel."

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2 Up A collection of 14 fairy tales, this book includes both well-known tales such as "Cinderella" and "Snow White" and lesser-known tales such as "The Nixie of the Mill Pond" and "Thousandfurs." The most outstanding feature of the collection is the stunning illustrations. Ranging from tiny pictures tucked into interesting corners to full-page illustrations, the delicate beauty, gentle coloring and excellent draftsmanship of Postma's work offers the potential to make this a volume to treasure. Less impressive, however, is the "adaptation" of the stories. The tales are unevenly worded, with run-on sentences, embedded questions and modern colloquialisms mixed freely with the lovely and timeless phrasing generally associated with the fairy tale. For example, in a 1940 translation of "The Golden Bird," this sentence is found: "With a heavy heart the Prince set out, but to his delight he soon met the faithful fox." Compare this wording with its parallel in this book: "The young prince was quite down in the dumps when he set out. How was he to find this beautiful girl? But there by the roadside was the helpful fox." One wonders why these tales have been "newly translated, then adapted" when excellent translations for many of the stories already existtranslations whose consistency and lofty beauty might have more fully matched the glorious illustrations which accompany them. Constance A. Mellon, Department of Library & Information Studies, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

These are rich, graphic versions of 14 famous fairy tales, replete with beheadings, doves that peck out the eyes of the wicked, stepsisters who cut off parts of their feet to fit Cinderella's wayward slipper, kings who fall in love with their daughters and fatal punishments. The beautiful queen who gives Snow White the poisoned apple faces her worst moment when "Red-hot iron shoes were put on her feet and she was made to dance until she fell down dead." These robust tellings make other collections pale in comparison, yet the gorier scenes are perfectly in context with the other mythical occurrences. Postma's velvety color paintings provide eerie interpretations of some stories (Hansel and Gretel fleeing through the woods) and comic portraits of others (One-Eye and Three-Eyes chasing golden apples in a tree). For a look at the real Grimm, this is a wonderful beginning.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dial
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 080370237X
• ISBN 13: 9780803702370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 99
• Illustrator: Lidia Postma