Coppelia - Hardcover

Fonteyn, Margot; Delibes, Leo; Hoffmann, E. T. A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152004289 ISBN 13: 9780152004286

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998

Synopsis

Dame Margot Fonteyn retells the ballet story of Coppelia, a doll so lifelike the she captures the heart of a young villager and the attention of his jealous fiancee, with vibrant, textured paintings that illustrate the power of imagination.

About this title

About the Authors

Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson began working together as a creative team in 1986 and have collaborated on more than 50 picture books, including the New York Times bestseller My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. They are recipients of the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. Visit them online at www.johnsonandfancher.com.

Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson began working together as a creative team in 1986 and have collaborated on more than 50 picture books, including the New York Times bestseller My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. They are recipients of the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. Visit them online at johnsonandfancher.com.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 5-Who better to tell the story of Coppelia than a "prima ballerina assoluta?" Having danced the starring role many times, Fonteyn has developed a wonderful feel for the characters' personalities. The clever and passionate Swanilda contrasts well with the villain, Dr. Coppelius, the dollmaker who tries to bring his masterpiece to life. His conflicting nature is delightfully portrayed: he is lonely and deserving of sympathy, yet deceitful and wicked in trying to gain his ends; he is comical and a source of amusement to the village, but also the genius creator in love with his creation. Historical notes at the end of the book are brief but highly interesting. The lovely paintings are full of depth and texture enhanced with pieces of richly patterned fabric. There is a golden and sepia tone to them, suggestive of candlelight and late sun. This play of light and shadow effectively gives an illusion of life and movement. It seems the characters really dance about their daily lives, and when they are still, they find their feet naturally falling into classical positions. Pleasingly balanced, the layout consistently poses one white page of text bordered in color against a colorful picture. Purchase Coppelia for your more sophisticated fairy-tale audience or pair it with Leontyne Price's version of Aida (Gulliver, 1990), illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, for a gorgeous unit on music and theater.
Torrie Hodgson, Burlington Public Library, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Having danced the part of Swanilda herself, the late dancer Fonteyn knew this 19th-century ballet from the inside out. With careful pacing, she recounts the tale of a mysterious dollmaker whose finest creation, a life-size doll named Copp?lia, comes between a young woman and her betrothed. Upon Swanilda's first appearance, as she happily thinks of her fianc?, Franz ("she could barely keep herself from dancing instead of walking"), Fonteyn foreshadows the fateful dance, in which Swanilda, rejected by Franz in favor of Copp?lia, cleverly exposes the illusion and wins back her sweetheart. In an astonishing visual pas de deux, Johnson and Fancher's mixed media artwork gives the pages a rich patina that recalls antique tapestry. Blocks of text are framed in a quilt-like background of fabric scraps that hints at the busy creativity of a dollmaker's studio. The artists carry this theme throughout the book by incorporating brocade and burlap into the illustrations themselves, adding texture and depth alongside bold brushstrokes and scrapework used in applying the oil paint. The European setting, with its half-timbered houses and cobbled streets, is dressed in rich autumnal hues, and an artful use of light and shadow brings a theatrical flair. Balletomanes will appreciate Fonteyn's afterword on the history of Copp?lia, along with the artists' homage to a famous Degas painting with Swanilda, dressed as the doll, dancing about and wreaking havoc. Ages 6-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The timeless tale of romance, suspicion, magic, and revenge is freshly retold, focusing on the feelings and actions of the characters: Dr. Copplius as he comes to terms with his artistic gifts and broken dreams; Swanilda as she mischievously attempts to find the ``daughter'' of Dr. Copplius; and Franz as he falls foolishly in love with a doll, but repents and wins Swanilda. The textured paintingsoil painting lavished across nubby tweeds, lace, brocades, and other fabrichighlight the events of this unforgettable story, sure to send balletomanes off in search of the nearest production of the ballet. (Picture book. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5^-8. Delibe's Coppelia, which was inspired by an E. T. A. Hoffman story, is a ballet particularly accessible to children. Doll maker Dr. Coppelius has created a masterpiece and dreams of bringing the realistic-looking doll to life. The doll, Coppelia, sits in the window of Dr. Coppelius' house and draws the admiration of young Franz. Franz's jealous sweetheart, Swanhilda, sneaks into the doll maker's house, dresses in the doll's clothing, and dances around his workshop. Seeing her, the doll maker at first thinks he has succeeded in bringing the doll to life but then finds that he has been deceived. Longer than previous picture-book versions of the tale, this retelling brings out the points of view of Dr. Coppelius, Franz, and Swanhilda and communicates the many dimensions of the story. An afterword fills in the history of the ballet. On each left-hand page, the text appears in a white box surrounded by a border of fabric swatches. On the facing page, a narrow white border frames a large illustration of a scene from the ballet, executed in both oil and material. Other painters have used fabric in paintings, but few have incorporated the cloth so effectively, making it part of the whole rather than an added feature stuck on as a novelty for its color, pattern, or texture. Here, the fabric is painted over in some places and in others left bare. The impressionistic paintings show the characters' personalities and moods through their bodies and gestures, rather than by facial details. Although the suggestion of music underlies the grace and movement of the characters, the illustrations show a story unfolding rather than a ballet in performance. A rich, visual interpretation and a wonderful introduction to a performance of the ballet. Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152004289
• ISBN 13: 9780152004286
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Johnson Steve, Fancher Lou
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40