Recently, I have been searching through the library picture book shelves for Brother Grimm tales and found two versions of The Elves and the Shoemaker. The version retold by John Cech was similar to the version I remember from my childhood. The accompanying illustrations were slightly rough looking, with pencil markings and lines. A few were in a pen and ink style. This lent to a somewhat eerie feel to the book, something that seems to go hand and hand with most Grimm tales.
For a more comical version, we read The Bootmaker and the Elves, by Susan Lowell. This story offered more than a few humorous twists and turns to the original fairy tale. A definite western feel was achieved with the illustrations and words like moseyed, buckaroo, and swaggering. There were comical characters like an 'old cowpoke' and a tall, lean, bowlegged man. Overall, though it wasn't completely true to the original, it told the same basic story line, and had us laughing.
Linked to Read-Aloud Thursday at Hope Is the Word
My children definitely have a deficit of these fairy tales in their lives. What a great idea to just read 'em all! Thanks for linking up to RAT!
ReplyDeleteYes, mine too! I keep thinking about that quote of Einstein (I think he said it, and I'm paraphrasing here) - if you want your children to be smart read them fairy tales.
DeleteAbsolutely love Grimm's. A vital part of childhood! Thank you for sharing these lovely books. I hope my kids never outgrow fairy tales.
ReplyDeleteI know I haven't outgrown them - I am loving the twists and turns and good vs evil plots.
Delete