★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper
Illustrated by: Marcia Brown
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4 and up
Also read and recommended by: Jeannette Tulis, Sherry Early
Charles Perrault's French version of Cinderella is here retold and illustrated by Marcia Brown. Cinderella is a fairy tale told in various versions across time and cultures, but Perrault's is a favorite and the most well-known.
The importance of the power of story for children was believed by Marcia Brown, and her writing of Cinderella shows that. She tells of the goodness of the young girl despite being mistreated by her step-sisters. Brown's illustrations for this book, done in soft pastels and ink, portray the fairy tale well. The drawings throughout the book are varied: some spanning a two-page spread, some full-page pictures, and sometimes the text wrapping around them in a variety of ways.
It would be interesting to also read The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo, Cendrillon: A Cajun Cinderella by Sheila Collins, or Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder and compare this fairy tale as told by different cultures.
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Marguerite De Angeli's Book of Nursery & Mother Goose Rhymes
By: Marguerite de Angeli
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4 and up
Also read and recommended by: Lara Lleverino, Sherry Early
With 376 rhymes and over 260 illustrations, Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes is an extensive volume of many well-known and more obscure nursery rhymes. The older I get, the more I see how few children know these rhymes which is so sad. I sing many to my grandchildren like "Hickory, dickory, dock" and "The eency weency spider climbed the water spout." Educationally, I believe these nursery rhymes are helpful in getting children to understand rhyming words as well as rhythm. Many of the rhymes are ones I have never heard before, short two-line rhymes as well as more extensive ones.
The illustrations by de Angeli are so lovely and idyllic. Animals, children, and scenery are carefully paired with the rhymes. Many of the illustrations are pencil drawings scattered across the pages, and every 10 to 12 pages, there is a full-page, full-color drawing as well as a smaller vignette drawing on the opposite page of the two-page spread. Soft-hued colors fill the drawings of beautiful country scenes.
I think this special book should be read and enjoyed by anyone who has little ones. The sound of the words, the lilt of the rhythm, and the touching illustrations will be loved, enjoyed, remembered, and treasured.
In the forward to the book, Marguerite describes her surprise when she realized that she had actually drawn her own family as the illustration for this rhyme,
"God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too.
And all the little children
That round the table go;
And all your kin and kinsmen,
That dwell both far and near;
I wish you a Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year."
The Thanksgiving Story
By: Alice Dalgliesh
Illustrated by: Helen Sewell
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
This is a book to read aloud to children when they first want to know why we have Thanksgiving Day. Children a little older may read it themselves.
The story tells of one family on the Mayflower, of their hardships on the voyage and during their first winter. It tells, too, of joy in the arrival of their new baby, of spring in their new home, of planting, harvest, and the giving of thanks.
ALICE DALGLIESH has written the text so that it carries something of the feeling of a great enterprise, something of the struggle for food and shelter—yet always keeps close to family life and so to the children reading it. HELEN SEWELL has kept the same spirit in her distinctive pictures which have much of the character of American primitive paintings.
From the dust jacket
Wheel On The Chimney
By: Margaret Wise Brown
Illustrated by: Tibor Gergely
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4-8
You might better recognize some of Hungarian-born artist Tibor Gergely’s illustrations in books like The Happy Man and His Dump Truck, Five Little Firemen, and Scuffy the Tugboat – all Little Golden Books of yesteryear. Here in The Wheel on the Chimney, he skillfully pictures the story of storks by Margaret Wise Brown. What an author/illustrator combo! The picture book tells the story of the cycle of life of the storks as they make their way north to the forests of Hungary in Europe, raise a family, and then travel back south to Africa. Many of the colorful illustrations by Gergely are panoramic from a high perspective, reflecting the view of these white birds. Sometimes in the illustrations, there are so many storks, they look like a cloud; other times, just one lonely stork gets blown off course. What a delightful, satisfying story. It would be a nice addition to get out a world map and trace the story as it progresses.
