The Trojan horse

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Hutton's interpretation of the Greek ruse that concluded the 10-year Trojan War is both elegant and dramatic. His pen-and-ink drawings, at once delicate and forceful, adroitly capture the scale of the conflict. Lines of warriors and ships, vivid in the foreground, recede hazily in the distance; the stunning and tragically irresistible wooden behemoth is shown dwarfing Troy's inhabitants and the Trojan fortress itself. Hutton's is narrative is, characteristically, scrupulously accurate and detailed, and seamless except for a too-abrupt transition when the horse's contents are revealed--a moment that fails to capture the situation's inherent theatricality. But this is a small quibble in light of the whole, for visually the horse is one of Hutton's finest creations: the closing image of its presiding over Troy's smoking ruins--its painted wide-eyed gaze and calm smile having become an ironic rebuke--is especially memorable. Ages 7-up. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Helen, beautiful wife of Menelaus of Sparta, falls in love with Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. They flee to Troy and thus ensues a ten year war. The Greeks appear to depart the field of battle leaving behind a gigantic wooden horse. In spite of the warnings of Laocoon, the high priest, the Trojans bring the wooden horse into their city, which eventually leads to their downfall. This classic story is boldly highlighted with brilliant watercolor illustrations.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-- Paris and Helen, the ten-year siege and battles, the ruse of the horse, Sinon, Laocoon, the Greeks' surreptitious return, the destruction of the city, and the exile of her people--all figure in this gracefully compact and dramatically compelling presentation of the end of the Trojan War. Hutton preserves a sense of Homeric scale and complexity both in text and in pictures. The forgotten lovers who started it all are poignantly evoked at the end; the frivolity of the huge, toylike horse, with its faint archaic smile is contrasted with the utter ruin of the city, graphically suggested in a masterly double-page spread of the massive, breached walls, fire within, a thick column of smoke and a thin column of exiles stretching into the distance. Hutton sacrifices some of his usual tender blues and lush greens for the pale yellow, umber, and lavender of the Anatolian plain. Some may find the horse insufficiently noble, but its meaning echoes in the repeated motif of a child's wheeled wooden toy, last seen overturned and abandoned in the rout. The Trojan War is introduced as being neither heroic nor despicable, but as an epic memory brought vividly and unforgettably to life. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle