Rip Van Winkle (Rabbit Ears/Book and Cassette)

Anjelica Huston narrates the entertaining story of Rip Van Winkle's expedition into the Catskill Mountains, a trip that turns into one of the world's longest naps, in a cassette version featuring music by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.

Grade 3-5-Told in an amicable storytelling style, this edition of the classic story is full of engaging figurative language. The colloquial expressions blend with the historical Dutch background of the tale, and make it more cheerful than the version adapted and illustrated by Thomas Locker (Dial, 1988). Here, the comical characters are reminiscent of the "Katzenjammer Kids"-quite a contrast to Locker's sedate, serene oil paintings. Meyerowitz illustrates events in U.S. history-the Revolution, Constitution, and George Washington-revealing the time frame of Rip's nap for young readers. His introduction is somewhat misleading, however, for he intimates that Henry Hudson and his men sailed north up the now Hudson River on the Dutch ship Half Moon until they disappeared, and so they still haunt this area. Actually, it was during a later trip to Hudson Bay that the crew mutinied and set Hudson ashore, never to be seen again. This contradiction does not affect the delightful retelling of this fine old tale. Share it for sheer enjoyment or to humanize social-studies units.
Betty Teague, Blythe Academy of Languages, Greenville, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.