Synopsis
As three friends tend their flocks on a Greek island, Daphnis and Dorco vie for the affections of Chloe
Reviews
Grade 2-4?Strange but lovely paintings grace this strange but lovely tale based on a Greek legend. The goatherd is Daphnis, who as a child was abandoned, suckled by a goat, and then adopted by a human couple. Chloe, the shepherdess, was also a foundling nursed by animals and adopted by people. The third character is Dorcon, a cowherd. The rivalry between Daphnis and Dorcon for Chloe's love grows until a band of pirates comes, mortally wounds Dorcon, and abducts Daphnis and about a dozen cows. With his dying breath, Dorcon tells Chloe to "Take the pipes and blow the cattle call." The stolen bovines hear it, leap overboard, capsize the ship, and bring Daphnis safely to shore. The story ends with the marriage of Daphnis and Chloe, who go on to lead a long and happy life. This rather complicated plot is elegantly told, although it's unfortunate that no source notes are included. Bloom's full-page acrylic paintings, with their cool, vivid colors and dramatic, dynamic compositions, have never been better. The characters' faces look like those on Greek coins; their skin is like the marble of statues; and their limbs have a look of substance that recalls some of Picasso's neoclassical paintings. The artist creates an elemental world of rocks, trees, water, and sky, a place where creatures exist together in harmony. In all, an unusual addition.?Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Hort (How Many Stars in the Sky?) transforms and condenses a sexy pastoral romance from third-century Greece into a tragic but ultimately uplifting story of a love triangle-a decidedly odd metamorphosis. Daphnis and Chloe, both foundlings rescued by herders, grow up together, "so it was natural that [they] became the best of friends." But the cowherd Dorcon becomes Daphnis's rival, and the two "grew as frisky and quarrelsome as a couple of billy goats over their favorite shepherdess." Dorcon conveniently leaves the scene by dying nobly: mortally wounded by pirates who have abducted Daphnis, he tells Chloe how to save her lover. This version does away with the original's keen interest in the gradual development of sexual interest and love between Daphnis and Chloe, but doesn't add much to compensate (no notes comment on source or approach, but the story is usually attributed to the poet Longus). There's also a swipe of sorts at the end, at adopted children who search for their natural parents. Bloom (Yonder) paints suitably pastoral landscapes-green grass, gray rocks and impossibly blue sky-in a classical manner. Similarly antique figures pose to dramatic effect, but the end result, highly stylized, may appeal more to adults than to children. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ages 5-8. Presenting the romantic tale of Daphnis and Chloe, this picture book tells of the young goatherd's growing love for the shepherdess, the rivalry of the cowherd Dorcon, the arrival of pirates who mortally wound Dorcon and abduct Daphnis, and Dorcon's dying act to save Daphnis, who returns and marries his beloved Chloe. Stylized, acrylic paintings in full color illustrate the story. No source notes appear in the book, and readers might assume from the settings and costumes that the story comes from classical Greek mythology. Actually, it appears to be a greatly abbreviated version of a tale by a third-century Greek pastoral writer named Longus, whose story inspired Ravel's music for the ballet Daphnis and Chloe. Since there's little dramatic tension in the telling and even less demand among the picture-book crowd for pastoral romances, this would appear to have a limited audience. Carolyn Phelan
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