Once upon a Time (1ST PRT- SIGNED BY AUTHOR) - Hardcover

Garner, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 075137007X ISBN 13: 9780751370072

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley, 1993

Synopsis

Contains three classic stories from the timeless world of folktales and retold in a way that is suitable for bedtime reading. The author wrote "Elidor", "The Owl Service" and "The Stone Book Quartet". Norman Messenger illustrated "Annabel's House" which won the US Redbook Award.

About this title

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-Garner retells three folktales with expressive language perfectly suited for telling or reading aloud. "The Fox, the Hare, and the Cock" and "The Girl and the Geese" are cumulative stories with a traditional European ambiance. Youngsters should enjoy repeating Fox's "'When I clump, ta-ra! When I thump, ta-ra! When I jump, ta-ra-ra! How the fur flies!'" as he tries to scare the other animals away. "Battibeth," which tells of a girl's fantastic search for her mother's carving knife, is offbeat and will appeal to children's sense of the absurd. The selections are short enough to be used with preschoolers and told by beginning storytellers, but they have not been simplified to the point of blandness. It is unfortunate that there are no source notes. The realistic illustrations are crisp, yet they are softly shaded. Messenger uses lush color throughout and pays scrupulous attention to details, down to the nasty face on a jug of sour milk and the gradations of colors of the elegant cockerel. Each page's handsome design and layout draw readers into the book, and the variations in type style and size create visual interest.
Cheri Estes, Dorchester Road Regional Library, Charleston, SC
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

One of Britain's finest novelists for young people (The Owl Service, 1967), who's long been interested in folklore (A Bag of Moonshine, 1986), creates three nursery tales distinguished by a folkloric lilt and his own fresh imagery. In the cumulative ``The Fox, the Hare, and the Cock,'' Fox moves into Hare's hut of bark when his own ice hut melts, and is finally driven out by clever Cock after larger, stronger animals have failed. ``The Girl and the Geese'' concerns a child who saves her little brother from geese who've carried him off, but only after she tastes a ``sharp apple,'' ``sour milk,'' and ``sad pies'' offered by prospective helpers (a tree, a brook). And the dreamlike adventure of ``Battibeth'' begins with an errand to her grandmother to trade an egg for a knife; along the way, she loses the egg but finds a needle, which is transformed into a steeple that she climbs for an empowering view (and there's still more in this imaginative, powerfully symbolic sequence). Compact and intriguingly mysterious; handsomely illustrated with precisely detailed images, deployed effectively against dramatic white. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dorling Kindersley
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 075137007X
• ISBN 13: 9780751370072
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32