In this version of the three little pigs, wolf gives his own outlandish version of what really happened when he encounters the three little pigs. This story offers a new twist on the original "Three Little Pigs". Alexander T. Wolf claims that he runs out of sugar for a cake that he is making for his grandmother eventhough he is a bit under the weather. In an effort to get sugar for his recipe, he visits the homes of his pig neighbors. At the first two houses he goes into sneezing fits and ends up blowing the houses down, killing both pigs. In his defense for blowing down the houses he suggests that it was due to their lack of intellegence for building houses made of straw and wood. Of course he can't let those two good meals go to waste, so he eats them up. When he visits the third house, made of brick, he thinks he has finally encountered the "smart" pig. He reconsiders when he finds that he has come across a grouchy pig. The wolf is appauled to hear nasty insults, especially about his grandmother, and tries to knock down the door. When the police finally arrive at the scene, they find wolf in a sneezing and wheezing fit. They arrest him and he ends up in jail. The wolf claims that the media framed him by blowing the whole incident out of proportion. The irony of the story is that he ends up in jail and is guarded by pigs. The last page of the story is hilarious: Al, now old and gray, is looking out of his cell holding a cup that reads, "Pig Penn."
The illustrations are bold and vivid. They tell the story as you visualize the innocence of the wolf and his attempt to appear sorry for his victims. The use of dark colors in the illustrations showed the true colors of the wolf as not being so innocent. The use of dark colors also adds to the picture of the last pig when the wolf knocks and asks for some sugar. The last pig is depicted as being beyond cold hearted with the dark colors around his eyes that give him an especially sinister look. The wolf looks traumatized in this picture as he is verbally abused by the pig, "And your old granny can sit on a pin!". He truely looks like a victim.
After the death of her mother, Adelita's father decides to remarry and selects Dona Micaela as his wife. Dona Micaela has two daughters and they soon join Adelita and Esperanza in the house. After her father's death, Dona Micaela forces Adelita to labor in the kitchen after dismissing Esperanza and moves her to a room in the attic. Soon they are invited to a fiesta in the honor of Javier, a childhood friend and eligible bachelor, but the cruel Dona Micaela won't hear of it. It is Esperanza who comes to the rescue when she gives Adelita a beautiful gown and colorful rebozo that once belonged to her mother. At the fiesta, Javier has eyes only for the beautiful stranger who calls herself Cenicienta, Cinderella. Javier declares his love for her and Adelita dashes out of the fiesta. The next day Javier sets out to find his love. When Adelita hears her cruel stepmother and stepsisters speak of this she runs to her room and hangs the rebozo from a window in hopes that Javier will find her. Javier finds the rebozo and asks permission to marry Adelita. Adelita forgives her stepmother and stepsisters and invites them to her wedding.
This Cinderella story gets a new Mexican setting and the magic element is removed giving the reader the feeling that this could actually happen in real life. Spanish phrases and their translations are used thoroughout the story and a list providing pronounciations is given at the end. While the story has similarities to the traditional version of Cinderella such as Adelita losing both her parents, living with a wicked stepmother and cruel stepsisters and finally marrying her prince, it also has some variations. In this story there is not a fairy godmother, but a faithful servant and the prince is a childhood friend. However, both versions end similarly with Cinderella and Adelita marrying their prince.
The acrylic paintings feature a romantically idealized Mexico of archways and terraces. The rich colors change in tone as sad times, mourning and great happiness are all illustrated in different double-page spreads. The decorative objects, including pottery, Mexican crafts and kitchenware give the illustrations an authrntic Mexican touch.
This collection of scary stories is likely to scare the pants off of many young readers. Many frightening tales along with a few gross ones with funny endings are presented in this book. This book is the first of a series of books of spooky tales written to make the reader jump out of their seat. The tales range from skeletons with torn and tangled flesh who roam the earth to a ghost who takes revenge on her murderer and an old woman who wishes for company and sees her wish come true right in front of her eyes. There are also a few gruesome poems and songs in this book that will definately make you look aroung before walking in the dark.
As the author points out some of these tales are very old and are based on things that people saw or heard or experenced - or thought they did. He divides the book in five sections titled "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!", "He Heard Footsteps Coming Up the Cellar Stairs...", "They ear your eyes, they ear your nose," "Other Dangers," and another section titled "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The story I found I could relate to was "The Big Toe." In this story a family finds a toe in the cementary and they take it home to cook and eat. The toe is divided among the father, mother and child. At night the child hears someone asking that their toe be returned and each time he hears this the voice comes closer and closer until it finally gets him.
The drawings in this book definately depict the story. They are creepy and capture the mood perfectly. The use of simple black and white color definately give the stories a sense of suspense and don't take away from the tale itself.
This beautifully illustrated edition of a romance epic, translated from Norwegian by Sir George Webbe Dasant, engages the reader and is easy to read. It is about a poor farm family that has a beautiful young daughter who sacrifices herself for her family only to find herself fall madly in love with a prince. The only catch is that the prince has a spell put on him by his wicked stepmother and in order for it to be broken he must live with a maiden for a year while being a white bear by day and man by night. The white bear takes the young girl to live with him in an enchanted castle where all she must do is ring a bell and her every desire is granted. When the maiden gets homesick he takes her to her now wealthy family under the condition that she not speak alone with her mother. The girl agrees and is taken home on the white bear's back. The girl tries not to be alone with her mother but alas she speaks to her mother and tells her all that has happened. Her mother convinces her to take a small candle and turn it on at night so that she may see what the man looks like, she thought he might be a troll. As soon as she turns on the candle at night she falls madly in love and kisses the man only to wake him and lose him forever since she did not do his bidding. She vows to find him before he marries the troll princess then he disappears. True to her word she seeks him out with the help of the wind from the east, west, south and north and finally reaches him. She then barters a golden apple and golden comb, given to her by two hags, in the hopes that she might spend the night with the prince. She does and is miserable to find that she cannot awaken her beloved. Finally a family being held prinsoners tells the prince of the maiden who cries for him at night and he fools the troll princess into thinking he has drank the sleeping potion. When his maiden comes that night he comes up with a plan to get rid of the princess whom he must marry. The next day their plan is carried out and he gets rid of the troll princess. They set the prisoners free and take with them all the silver and gold in the castle.
Lynch's paintings in dark greens and browns, with their large close-ups and exciting shifts in perspective, capture the story's heroic scale. The illustrations are made using watercolor on double page spreads as well as framed pages containing text and they complement the fairytale beautifully. The illustration I liked the most was when the girl lights the candle to look at the man she has been sleeping with. The look of innocence on her face leads one to believe that she truely is unaware of what she has actually done until the prince explans. "What have you done?" he cried. "Now you have made us both unlucky, for had you held out only this one year, I had been freed. For I have a stepmother who has bewitched me, so that I am a White Bear by day and a Man by night. But now all ties are snapped between us now I must set off from you to her." The look of desperation and disbelief is captured beautifully in this picture.
This is definately a book worth reading to children of all ages as the heroin in this story is a young girl who rescues the prince instead of the prince rescuing the girl. As I read this story I associated certain parts with Beauty and the Beast ( a prince in the form of a beast living in an enchanted castle until the girl falls in love with him and sets him free) and others with Shrek ( the princess was a girl by day and ogre by night). As is the case with the movies mentioned, this story also ends happily ever after..
Texas Women's University
A requirement for LS5603