Puss in Boots: A Fairy Tale by Perrault (The Little Pebbles) - Hardcover

Perrault, Charles; Floury, Marie-France

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789204223 ISBN 13: 9780789204226

Publisher: Abbeville Kids, 1998

Synopsis

An enterprising cat—with only a bag, a pair of boots, and some audacity—arranges for his owner, a poor farmer, to marry a princess and live happily every after.

The stories in the Abbeville Classic Fairy Tales series have been adapted for the children of today while respecting the richness and flavor of the original versions. This charming series retells classic fairy tales with bright illustrations and a clever tone. Children will love the game page at the end of each book, and they will want to read all the books in the series.

About this title

Review:

Charles Perrault first published his collection of classic French folk tales 300 years ago, including "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," and this entertaining story about a most clever feline. In Puss and Boots, a poor miller dies and leaves his youngest son nothing but a cat. The son is none too happy about it, either; " ...once I've eaten my cat and made a muff out of the fur, I'm sure to starve," he says. But what a legacy the bequeathed cat turns out to be! The cat in tall boots creates a new identity for the youngest son--the Marquis of Carabas, complete with fine clothes, fields of wheat, a castle stolen from an ogre, and in the end, the respect of the king and the hand of the king's daughter. The story itself is gracefully and humorously told, and the text, set in large gray type, adds an old-fashioned air to the tale.

Fred Marcellino's illustrations for Puss in Boots--a Caldecott Honor Book--are infused with golden light and summer warmth in the sun-dappled woods and beside the fields of ripe grain. Many of his paintings show a masterful use of perspective; the reader sometimes looks down on a scene as though from a balcony, or from below, at a huge charging lion. Marcellino has also illustrated a version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Steadfast Tin Soldier and two books by Tor Seidler, A Rat's Tale and The Wainscott Weasel. Young listeners won't soon forget this crafty character of a cat, who has a great deal of charm despite his less-than-honest means of helping his master. (Ages 5 to 9)

About the Author:

Charlotte Roederer has illustrated more than seven children's books, including Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Abbeville Kids), also in the Little Pebbles series. In 1996 she was on the judging committee for the Jérôme Main Prize for children's illustrations. She lives in France.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abbeville Kids
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0789204223
• ISBN 13: 9780789204226
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Roederer Charlotte