The Whittler's Tale - Hardcover

Armstrong, Jennifer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688107524 ISBN 13: 9780688107529

Publisher: Tambourine, 1994

Synopsis

A young girl learns the secret of a strange whittler whose carvings magically come to life

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-4-A whimsical fable of a traveling whittler whose creations become real. The sparrow he carves soars, the dragonfly darts away, and the watching crowd marvels. The mayor and the sheriff seize his knife, but it does them no magic. A young girl, Clementine, aspiring to be a carver herself, rescues the useless knife and returns it to the stranger, from whom she learns the true source of his gift. The story of the whittler's skill is stretched into fantasy in order to support the theme that true artistic creation comes more from the mind than the hand. The bold, bright illustrations work against the text, rather than enhance it. Vasiliev's accomplished pictures show European settings, colorful 18th-century wigs and costumes, peasant clogs, and fairy-tale castles. They are full of surreal details, interesting perspectives, and an Old-World atmosphere that transform the simple tale into an elaborate spectacle. Also, the placement of the pictures doesn't always jibe with the text, requiring readers to search to match the appropriate illustration with the words. Handsome book design and quality printing cannot compensate for the mismatch of story and art.
Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tambourine
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0688107524
• ISBN 13: 9780688107529
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Vasiliev Valery