Posted on: 04/11/2013
Looking for some new reading as the weather starts to turn colder? Well, look no further! In our Literature reviews, we pick some recently published books to share with you. This month we have some of our favourite author/illustrator collaborations, a couple of retellings of well-loved fairytales and a modern fable.
This new offering from one of our favourite author/illustrator collaborations certainly doesn’t disappoint. We have long celebrated McAllister’s use of language and Baker-Smith’s vivid, dream-like illustration and this new text captures the crispness of the wintry setting perfectly through its words and images.
A modern fable, this story follows the character of Tom, who desperately wishes that winter would never end. Winter casts its magic and his wish becomes reality. Meeting a friend along the way, they share their love of snow and ice. However, Tom realises the mistake he has made when spring doesn’t arrive and his grandmother becomes ill.
We can see great potential for using this text in the classroom and think it would be great to compare modern and traditional fairytales and fable stories.
grimmtales
In this beautifully illustrated book of retellings of fifty classic Brother’s Grimm tales, Phillip Pullman adds his own richness and intensity of language to the stories originally published almost two hundred years ago. What is clear from reading these tales is how the power of each tale comes from the stories’ themselces: often gruesome; always captivating. This is a refreshing change in a world of sugar-coated Disney versions.
Pullman chooses a range of Jacob and Wilhelm’s stories, from the more well-known Snow White and Cinderella to the lesser-known The Three Snake Leaves and Hans-My-Hedgehog and reflects upon why each tale has become part of our storytelling tradition in his interesting commentaries.
This would make a great text to share as part of a book group with a group of children in upper key stage 2, especially if they already know, or think they know, the original tales!
Pinocchio
We were huge fans of Emma Chichester Clark and Michael Morpurgo’s collaboration on their retellings of The Pied Piper and Hansel and Gretel and they have not failed to impress in this new version of Pinocchio, nor do they ever shy away from the darkness of the original story.
However, what makes this retelling really stand out from the crowd, apart from its stunning illustrations and beautiful language, is that it is retold from the point of view of Pinocchio himself. Although, he tells us, he is only a puppet, he is probably “the most famous puppet the world has ever known” and so it is about time we heard his story.
This is a great version for exploring stories told from the protagonist’s point of view, and we are delighted to have a great new version of a less commonly told tale – and think it makes a great bedtime story for all ages.
