Overview
A sumptuous retelling of the classic fairy tale SLEEPING BEAUTY with gorgeous full-color art that will bring this tale to life for a new generation of readers.The classic tale of SLEEPING BEAUTY is retold by acclaimed author Adele Geras, and joined with detailed paintings that bring the story to life.
When the king and queen throw a banquet in honor of the birth of their daughter, they invite all of the fairies, but one, Skura, who attends the feast, seeking revenge. She curses the baby, but her evil intentions are undone by the good fairy who instead promises years of sleep.
The pages are trimmed with exquisite borders to give it a classic feel, and the lavish full-color art is highlighted with black and white sketches.
Enraged at not being invited to the princess's christening, a wicked fairy casts a spell that dooms the princess to sleep for one hundred years.
Synopsis
The classic tale of SLEEPING BEAUTY is retold by acclaimed author Adele Geras, and joined with detailed paintings that bring the story to life.When the king and queen throw a banquet in honor of the birth of their daughter, they invite all of the fairies, but one, Skura, who attends the feast, seeking revenge. She curses the baby, but her evil intentions are undone by the good fairy who instead promises years of sleep.The pages are trimmed with exquisite borders to give it a classic feel, and the lavish full-color art is highlighted with black and white sketches.
Publishers Weekly
Birmingham's (A Christmas Carol) opulent illustrations wed Geras's (My Grandmother's Stories) lush prose for happily-ever-after results in this version of the classic fairy tale. Bordered in a subtle French blue floral motif and embellished with pencil vignettes, the large square pages of text seem elegant and inviting. These are set off by about a dozen richly worked paintings of Aurora and her parents, who pose enveloped in stiff damask, adorned with gold and jewels. Birmingham favors brilliant illumination; his scenes glow with candlelight, shine with the cool gray sheen of mist, or gleam with the golden threads of royal raiment. Geras's lovingly spun-out descriptions bump the tale up from bedtime story to fantasy-style fiction suitable for a slightly older audience: "Dragonflies flashed suddenly around her head, the leaves on every tree whispered to her, and she could hear a humming in the air which seemed to be saying, Go back to the palace, and when the roses are in bloom, your baby will be born." While hewing closely to other renditions of the story, Geras finds new things to say. Aurora approaches the spindle not, as in some other versions, with timidity or girlish curiosity, but with knightly courage: "True, the darkness was thick here, and a chill hung in the air, but the dark and the cold did not frighten her." Gift-buying relatives will be attracted to this volume, as will adult fairy-tale collectors. Ages 7-10. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.