France Month: Les six frères cygnes par Elsa Oriol (Illustrateur)

Les six frères cygnes par Wilhelm Grimm (Auteur), Jacob Grimm (Auteur), Elsa Oriol (Illustrateur) is better known as The Six Swans to us in English. I was thrilled to find so many illustrations from this book to share for it is a beloved tale, not often seen illustrated in picture books.

Book description:

La fratrie des frères Grimm se composait de cinq garçons et d'une fille, très importante dans l'histoire familiale, C'est pourquoi Les six frères cygnes occupent une place particulière parmi les contes que les frères Grimm ont fixés par écrit. Nous sommes ici d'emblée au cœur de toutes les tensions: la famille éclatée, recomposée, est source d'épreuves, de rivalités, de désirs, d'interdits, de transgressions et c'est seulement en surmontant ces épreuves que la fratrie parviendra à dénouer les fils du sortilège
et à construire enfin son destin.

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Picture Book: Me and You by Anthony Browne

While I have Goldilocks on everyone's brain today, I wanted to share a somewhat recent release (2010) that I missed until I few weeks ago and have been saving until Goldilocks was on my mind. The book is Me and You by Anthony Browne as author and illustrator who has offered us interesting fairy tale visions in the past.

Book description:

A small bear goes for a stroll in the park with his parents, leaving their bowls of porridge cooling on the kitchen table. Meanwhile, a girl with golden hair is hopelessly lost in a big, frightening city when she comes across a house with the door left invitingly open. Inside are three bowls of porridge in the kitchen, three chairs in the living room, and three comfortable-looking beds upstairs, and no one seems to be home . . .

For me, it's hard to see Goldilocks in a fresh way, but this book definitely puts a different twist on a the tale and makes it a different story. Goldilocks is not the brat she is in so many versions, think James Marshall's version in particular which I also adore.

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France Month: Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Marion Billet

Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Marion Billet is more of a play book than a book, but it is cute so I had to share it as part of France Month. It has pop-up book qualities and it has joined my personal wishlist.

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France Month: Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Vanessa Hié

 

Boucle d'or et les trois ours illustrated by Vanessa Hié has been published in two editions with two different authors credited for the text. The book on the left is in print while the one on the right is out of print. Either way, I found these illustrations witty and fun. I couldn't find internal imagery from the in-print edition which would be interesting since it is a different shape and must use the illustrations differently.

But the pompon hair on Goldilocks emphasizes her youth and sells the story to me.

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$10 off Ebook Textbook Extended Through 1/23

   

I posted about Amazon's $10 off the purchase or rental of an ebook textbook late in December but wanted to repost since the offer has been reopened and extended to tomorrow night if you didn't use it before. I did so I don't qualify for it again this year--I bought the Princess Peacock collection of Chinese folklore pictured above since I already owned the titles that I recommend the most. And my library of Chinese folklore is rather slim in comparison to other areas in my collection.

You can read about the deal here and enter the promo code into your account--remember you have to enter the code before you buy or rent a book--and here are links to textbook searches for Fairy Tales and Folklore since they can be tricky to generate if you're no on the right page. "If you received a confirmation that your code has been entered successfully, your $10 credit is now in your account and will remain there until it has been applied towards the purchase or rental of eligible Kindle e-textbooks or until it expires at 11:59 p.m PST on January 23, 2012."

There are other subject areas where you can find textbooks for under$10, so you'd get it for free. But this is a folklore blog, so that's what I am featuring here.

   

  

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France Month: Les fées par Anne Royer (Auteur), D'après Charles Perrault (Auteur), Élodie Coudray (Illustrations)

Les fées par Anne Royer (Auteur), D'après Charles Perrault (Auteur), Élodie Coudray (Illustrations) is another picture book of The Fairies/Diamonds and Toads by Charles Perrault. I admit this one always fascinates me since I consider it a challenge to make it look attractive for someone to regurgitating anything, be it diamonds or toads.

Book description:

« Il était une fois une mère qui n'avait d'yeux que pour celle de ses filles qui lui ressemblait. Elle maltraitait la seconde, qu'elle envoyait souvent puiser de l'eau à la source lointaine. Un jour, la pauvre enfant aida une vieille femme à se désaltérer. En remerciement, elle reçut un présent... » Trop d'enfants aujourd'hui ne connaissent plus les contes classiques. Ces contes qui, pourtant, aident à grandir, enrichissent l imaginaire de mille et une créatures, fées, princesses ou dragons et apportent à la vie une morale pleine d'humour où les méchants sont punis et les plus petits récompensés. Des contes qui donnent envie d'apprendre à lire et plus tard de raconter, transmettre l'histoire à ses enfants ! Pour faciliter l accès à cette formidable richesse de la littérature jeunesse, voilà une collection à petit prix, avec des histoires magnifiquement illustrées et surtout des textes, adaptés aux plus jeunes, qui ont su garder l'impertinence, l'ambiance et les tournures si particulières des contes de fées...

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