Tales From Perrault (Oxford Illustrated Classics) - Hardcover

Lawrence, Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0192745336 ISBN 13: 9780192745330

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1989

Synopsis

This sparkling new addition to the distinguished Oxford Illustrated Classics series presents some of the best-loved tales of master storyteller Charles Perrault. The anthology of eleven stories includes such favorites as Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb, and Bluebeard, together with some less familiar ones. In this captivating retelling, the tales are set in an ingenious framework which provides an insight into the life and times of Perrault as well as a background to the stories themselves. As a young girl leaves Paris to spend summer in the country, she begs Monsieur Perrault to send her his stories in letters. This he does, enchanting her with tales of fairies and wishes-come-true and making her shiver with stories about wolves, ogres and giants.
Folklorist Charles Perrault (1628-1703) first published his stories in France in 1697, and these, translated into English as Tales of Mother Goose, were among the earliest popular versions of many of our fairy tales. The stories in this volume, translated and retold by the late Ann Lawrence, are faithful to the well-loved originals, while the stunning illustrations of Tony James Chance bring them vividly and stylishly to life.

ANN LAWRENCE, 1942-1987, was a distinguished writer for children whose books have included There and Back Again, Summer's End, and the Oggy series. TONY JAMES CHANCE is an illustrator who lives in England.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6-- A collection of 11 fairy tales. The book begins with Madame la Marquise's daughter begging Monsieur Perrault to write stories for her over the summer when they are away. These tales then are placed inside letters to Madame la Marquis. They differ slightly from the more commonly accepted versions. For instance, in "Little Red Cap," the girl gets undressed and climbs into bed with the wolf--"where she was astonished to see what her grandmother looked like without her clothes." The wolf eats both the girl and her grandmother. After the story, "Perrault" writes, "Children had better not listen to everyone they meet, and pretty, nicely brought up little girls should be particularly careful whom they talk to. If they're not, it's no wonder they get eaten up." All the tales include a lesson. The illustrations are overly bright and, although well executed, appear ghoulish in oranges, purples, turquoise, and greens. The figures are placed in Perrault's courtly France, but the images detract from rather than enhance the tales. Both the correspondence format with its moralizing, and the stark illustrations remove the tales from a dream-like setting and attempt to place them in reality, which is unseemly and disturbing. --Regina Pauly, Free Library of Philadelphia
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0192745336
• ISBN 13: 9780192745330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 130
• Illustrator: Chance Tony James