Reviews: (by author)

(3 Reviews)

French, Vivian. The Kingfisher Mini-Treasury of Fairy Tales. Illus. Peter Malone. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN 0-7534-5703-2. $9.95

This excellent small-sized hardback containing 7 well-known fairy tales is an outstanding value. The tales, such as “Cinderella” and “Rumplestilskin,” are retold by Vivian French in engaging and lively prose, using a lot of sound effects and different type sizes to add to the reading-aloud enjoyment of the book. Her selection does not focus only on stories of beautiful princesses but includes cautionary tales such as “The Fisherman and His Wife” and tales totally without royalty, such as “The Elves and the Shoemaker.” With the current emphasis on princess stories linked to consumerism, the range of stories presented here is refreshing.

Malone’s original art work is colorful and expressive, capturing well the atmosphere of dark woods (“Hansel and Gretel”) and grand balls. The layout of text and art is nicely done; each page is distinct.

The Kingfisher Mini-Treasury of Fairy Tales makes a long-lasting, pleasurable gift for young readers.

A. Allison, June 2007

French, Vivian. Illustrated by Chris Fisher. The Snow Dragon. London: Transworld, 2000 (A Picture Corgi Book). ISBN 0-552-54595-3. £4.99 (paperback).

This is a magnificent book, a highly original myth or fairy tale, rendered beautifully in words and pictures. The eternal struggle of good and evil is depicted in delightful imagery that will appeal to readers of all ages.

Reviewed by Maria Nikolajeva

French, Vivian. The Kingfisher Book of Nursery Tales. Illus. Stephen Lambert. Boston: Kingfisher (HM), 2003. $15. ISBN 0-7534-5482-3.

Very well done selection of eight classic tales for being-read-to-children, the pace of prose is as French says in her Foreword—meant to be vocalized. That makes this an extra enjoyable book for the adult or other reader. The language level is aimed just right (like Goldilocks' porridge) at attentive ears, honed, as French reveals as well, by much practiced reading in her own home. The stories do read aloud very well and they even look exciting on the page with lots of capital letters and friendly big print.

I found French's innovation with the Little Red Hen to be very smart, for after she's left down by her lazy barnmates the cat, the dog, and the duck, she shares the bread with her own little chicks. "The Three Little Pigs" is told with enormous vivacity, as are "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The Three Wishes," and "The Enormous Turnip." At $15 for eight stories in a well-made hardback, this is a good buy.

I enjoyed French's retellings of all eight stories—except for the last, "Little Red Riding Hood." Not that French"s Red Riding Hood is any less well written than the others; rather, she has selected the most patriarchal of the versions. Here Little Red Riding Hood is repeatedly warned not to stray from the path by her mother and woodcutter father (even the wolf warns her!), yet she persists. The wolf as grandma is ready to lunge at her and eat her up, but he trips in grandma's nightie—lucky for LRRH. Even luckier, at this moment the woodcutter shows up to do his traditional rescue (he was inserted by the Grimm Brothers in the early 1815), leaving RRH rescued but completely passive. In other versions, she's not such a wuss.

As if content and price weren't enough incentive, Stephen Lambert's art is simply outstanding. With expressive characters from sly cats to grannies and tiptoeing bears placed liberally throughout the text, Lambert's humor and wonderful composition and color add smiles—see the second to last page of "The Enormous Turnip." The troll from "Three Billy Goats Gruff," p. 78, is one of my favorites.

I would give this book as a gift; it's one of Kingfisher's fine publications.

Highly Recommended
A. Allison F '04

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