The Wicked Prince (Creative Editions)

Stunning edition of the classic European tale.

Gr 3-6--One of Andersen's darker stories, but not without a note of hope. A wicked, arrogant prince plunders and conquers first his own land, and then the neighboring nations, enslaving the vanquished kings. When he tries to conquer God, he is defeated by a single gnat imprisoned in his armor. The text is spare, measured, and deliberate. It is starker than Erik Christian Haugaard's translation in The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories (Doubleday, 1973; o.p.). The arrangement of the type on the page further emphasizes hopelessness: wide leading, varied justification, and all capital letters are devices used as deliberately as the carefully distilled language. The haunting illustrations, rendered in muted colors, capture the mood of the story, especially those of the prince, anonymous in his armor. The art reinforces and extends the text, often pointedly so. Some of the pictures are disturbing, such as the double spread in gray and black with a sickly yellow tinge depicting the desolate, ravaged countryside. A handsome and well-crafted book suitable for older readers.

Donna L. Scanlon, Lancaster County Library, PA

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