Melanie - Hardcover

Carrick, Carol

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395665558 ISBN 13: 9780395665558

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1996

Synopsis

Seeking her grandfather, who never returned from his journey to find a healer to restore her sight, the blind shepherdess Melanie discovers that he has been captured by a wicked troll who enchants everyone who sees him.

About this title

About the Author:

Carol Carrick has written more than twenty-five well-received books for Clarion, including PATRICK'S DINOSAURS, one of the many books illustrated by her late husband, Donald Carrick. She lives in West Tisbury, Massachusetts.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3-In this original fairy tale, Melanie, a blind girl, tends the sheep, spins, and weaves cloth that her grandfather sells at the town market. In the evenings, he tells stories about a troll who changes all who cross his bridge into gulls. One day, the elderly man hears of a healer and decides to bring him to Melanie. When her grandfather fails to return after a few weeks, the girl journeys alone to find him. Her journey, fraught with fear, takes her to the troll's bridge, but because she cannot see him, she cannot fall under his spell. As the enraged troll grabs Melanie, the gulls attack him, and he falls into the sea with the girl. Weighted by his gold, he drowns; the gulls, including grandfather, change back into human form. Melanie remains blind but, as she tells her grandfather, had she been able to see the troll, she would have been changed into a bird, too. The illustrations provide an Old-World, western European look. The heavily lined, jewel-toned watercolors are rendered in a palette of browns, tans, greens, and reds. The illustrations vary in size and are connected by ornate borders decorated with jewels and gold coins. The composition is busy, the poses stylized. The text is frequently pedestrian, with mannered dialogue, making it more suited to independent reading or one-to-one sharing than reading aloud to a group.
Cynthia K. Richey, Mt. Lebanon Public Library, Pittsburgh, PA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0395665558
• ISBN 13: 9780395665558
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Dianov Alisher