The Water Of Life: A Tale From The Brothers Grimm
10 best books like The Water Of Life: A Tale From The Brothers Grimm (Jacob Grimm): Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm, The Sleeping Beauty, King Stork, Swan Lake, Hilary Knight's Cinderella, The Fortune-Tellers, The Bee-Man of Orn, Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave, The Weaving of a Dream, The Magic Nesting Doll
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm
| Author | Randall Jarrell |
| ISBN | 0374468680 |
I guess everyone wants to put their spin on these old fairy tales, but it’s difficult to have a stronger voice than Disney did as a visual medium is so powerful. I don’t think I have heard this version before. At the end, the kingdom of Snow White’s prince puts a pair of sandals on the wicked queen with...
| Author | Trina Schart Hyman |
| ISBN | 0316387029 |
The story of the beautiful princess who sleeps for a hundred years has captured the imaginations of children for an even longer period of time. How could everyone in a castle - even the flies on the walls - sleep for a century and then wake up?
This magical, beautifully illustrated tale begins...
| Author | Howard Pyle |
| ISBN | 0688158137 |
Minimal dragons and lions, despite what the blurb implies. No dragons, no lions, despite what the blurb says. I can't tell for sure, but I don't think the text is Pyle's original (despite no mention of an adaptation, when I find picture captions for Pyle's original art the language is much more archaic)....
| Author | Margot Fonteyn |
| ISBN | 0152006001 |
Ms. Fonteyn was one of the world’s most famous and gifted prima ballerinas. Such talents don’t necessarily translate to writing a children’s book.
While she keeps the story of the ballet simple, there are awkward moments as if she couldn’t find a way to keep a line interesting and informative....
| Author | Hilary Knight |
| ISBN | 0375814221 |
Hilary Knight imbues the story of Cinderella with characters of the same humor, zest, and personality that have made generations of children and grown-ups fall in love with his most famous creation: Eloise. A pair of pet cats, a blue fairy godmother, and an endearing, if somewhat overweight, Prince...
| Author | Lloyd Alexander |
| ISBN | 0140562338 |
5 STARS FOR THE ART.
4 STARS FOR THE STORY.
I had high hopes for this one since it was born of the creative talents of two of children's literature's most gifted. It lived up to my expectations in that the illustrations are absolutely stunningly fabulous ans so full of atmosphere and the story...
| Author | Frank R. Stockton |
| ISBN | 0763622397 |
Written at the turn of the 20th century, The Bee-Man of Orn shurgs off the didactic noose which threatened a lot of children's literature at the time and, instead, seems to honour the themes and ideas prevalent in the earlier traditional tales in which it feels like it has been based. Here we encounter...
| Author | Marianna Mayer |
| ISBN | 0688085008 |
Sweet, lovely Vasilisa lives with her jealous stepmother and stepsisters on the edge of a dark forest inhabited by the evil witch Baba Yaga. One night the stepmother sends Vasilisa to visit Baba Yaga, an errand from which the gentle girl has little chance of returning alive. "An engaging text and accomplished...
| Author | Marilee Heyer |
| ISBN | 0140505288 |
A retelling of the Chinese folktale "The Chuang Brocade"
The Weaving of a Dream is the story of a widow who provides for her sons by creating intricate brocades. One day, she trades a brocade for a beautiful painting of a palace. She then spends years lovingly recreating the scene in brocade only...
| Author | Jacqueline K. Ogburn |
| ISBN | 0803724144 |
Katya's grandmother took a little matryoshka, a nesting doll, out of a small box. "If your need is great, open the doll and help will come. But you may only do so three times. After that the magic will be gone." A wicked spell has changed a handsome young prince to a pale glassy figure made of "living ice,"...
Well, I have modern sensibilities and could never get into Arthurian lore. But I loved Saint George and the Dragon by this team, and so I had to try this. Very glad I did. Not dumbed-down for kids, not updated for feminists, it is what it is. And it does set up the scene, tone, atmosphere, values... well enough...
| Author | Barbara Rogasky |
| ISBN | 0823404544 |
Okay, so I really liked how this retold the semi-original tale. But unfortunately, Rapunzel as a story kind of creeps me out and I don't think Rogasky did much retelling as just editing the original. I didn't care more about characters. That's what I really look for in these sorts of books. HOWEVER, the...
| Author | Nina Jaffe |
| ISBN | 0805043845 |
Many years ago in Poland, there lived a rabbi who had a wife and three daughters. One day, the rabbi asks his children a powerful question: "How much do you love me?" His older daughters profess their love in gold and diamonds, but his youngest daughter, Mireleh, declares she loves her father the way meat...
| Author | Katrin Hyman Tchana |
| ISBN | 0316387010 |
I've just read this quickly before sending it to my niece. I'm disappointed that the prose doesn't sparkle. Tchana is a pedestrian stylist and there are certainly better-written folktales. But the content is fabulous. The 'princesses' are bright, curious, patient, physically courageous, thoughtful,...
The Sea King's Daughter: A Russian Legend
Sadko the musician loved his city of Novgorod, the richest and most free in all Russia. With its great feasts, its white stone churches, its merchant visitors from many lands, Sadko felt there was no better place to be. Yet he was lonely too, for the rich young ladies who danced to his music would never favor...
| Author | Mercer Mayer |
| ISBN | 0027653404 |
This version of the story has some interesting and different details. For one thing, the wicked fairy appears 3 times during the story, not just once. Some of the fairies have names, with the wicked fairy being the Blue Fairy, and the fairy who softens her curses being the Star Fairy. The first curse of...
| Author | Ruth Sanderson |
| ISBN | 0316769061 |
Please note that this review is written for my use as a librarian and may not appeal directly to readers. Please review at your own risk.
Accelerated Reader has this book listed as being for lower grades, or readers in K to 3rd grade. They also have listed that this read is worth 0.5 AR points.
Not...
| Author | Eric A. Kimmel |
| ISBN | 0823418774 |
“Three Samurai Cats” is an ancient Japanese folktale about how three samurai cats come to the Daimyo’s castle to defeat a savage rat with the last samurai cat giving the rat a taste of his own medicine. Eric A. Kimmel’s hilarious retelling and Mordicai Gerstein’s colorful drawings...
The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story
| Author | Judy Sierra |
| ISBN | 0689821883 |
In the Spice Islands, where clove and nutmeg trees grow,
a girl named Damura lived long ago.
Damura is a beautiful girl, as kind and lovely as the little green parrot that perches on the nutmeg tree. But Damura's stepmother and stepsister mistreat her. They force her to rise before dawn, carry...
Adelita: A Mexican Cinderella Story
| Author | Tomie dePaola |
| ISBN | 0142401870 |
Hace mucho tiempo?a long time ago?there lived a beautiful young woman named Adelita. So begins the age-old tale of a kind-hearted young woman, her jealous stepmother, two hateful stepsisters, and a young man in search of a wife. The young man, Javier, falls madly in love with beautiful Adelita, but...
| Author | Paul Galdone |
| ISBN | 0833544489 |
There have been so many different versions of the legendary Brothers Grimm tale, “Rumpelstiltskin” that I was surprised to find another version of this tale, even though I already know the story by now! But, Paul Galdone’s version of the classic Brothers Grimm tale is definitely something...
