Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose

Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose by Nancy Gow, illustrated by Stephen Costanza  Sterling, 2010

A prince and a princess think they will never find someone to marry. Their sadness is poignant as they suffer rejection and disappointment at the hands of others. His nose is too big and her feet are too long.

When the prince meets this princess on the ski slopes she does not know that the scarf wrapped around his face hides an overly large nose.   He does not realize that her feet are actually ski length.  Here are two kind people who have despaired at finding a kindred spirit.  Their pleasure in their new friendship is a joyous thing. (One can only hope Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton share something similar.)

The prince was enthralled by the princess's smile, her beautiful voice and her princess-y style. The princess laughed hard at His Highness's wit. She enjoyed a good joke. The young prince was a hit!

Stephen Costanza uses a dreamy, fairytale palette on the page.  His prince and princess are sympathetic and tender hearted.  The characters are comedic but also have a bright, sweet, and romantic whimsy.

Not all fairy tales are about "the fairest in the land" in the traditional sense.  These two are fair in spirit.  This is a lovely tale. 

Fairy tale design and architecture

Steven Guarnaccia's books should be in every art and decorative arts museum gift shop. Guarnaccia is a program chair at the Parson's School of Design. 

The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale retold and illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia. Abrams, 2010

 Three little pigs leave their mother's house, aka Gamble House to build homes of their own.  The architectural visions of Frank Gehry, a house of scraps aka Gehry House,  Phillip Johnson, a house of glass aka The Glass House, and Frank Lloyd Wright's stonework Fallingwater, are presented as each little pig builds their dream home.  Alas when the big bad wolf arrives in his black leather jacket on a Phillippe Starck Voxan GTV 1200 the scraps and glass do not fare well from wolfish huffing and puffing.  The concrete and stone of "Fallingwater's" construction do survive and the wolf is foiled by the third little pig's trickery.

Designers will recognize high design interiors but Guarnaccia provides reference drawings on the end papers for the rest of us.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears: a Tale Moderne retold and illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia. Abrams, 2010

 

Traditional telling but with a very moderne twist as the bears in this family are connoisseurs of the decorative arts and cutting edge modern design.  The chair that Goldilocks breaks is a Charles&Ray Eames molded plywood LCW chair, 1946 (the end papers provide a excellent index to the bears' furniture and interior design aesthetic)

Mama Bear's chair is a Arne Jacobsen Danish Egg chair, circa 1957.  The beds are Allessandro Becchi and D'Urbino Lomazzi.

Papa Bear looks like a Beat poet, Mama Bear is a bohemian while Baby Bear wears a vintage coonskin cap. 

These traditional retelling are excellent read alouds.  I can imagine a fun library lesson paired with photos and information about the designers and architects.   More please.

Rapunzel's Revenge

Entling no. 2 looks at me and says, "You have too many books."

This from the kid who had so many books in her apartment when we packed her up that I decided the laws of physics must have been suspended at those map coordinates. That many books could not possibly have fit into that tiny abode. They are all here now. She does have all of her books on shelves.

My book stacks of reproach are groaning so I've asked her if she wanted to lend a hand with some reviews.

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale, Bloomsbury, September 2008

I don't typically share my entmother's enthusiasm for kids' lit. It's not that these books aren't amazing stories; it's just that my preferred reading genres are sci-fi and fantasy, with the occasional supernatural thriller thrown in here and there just to shake things up a bit. Every now and then, though, Mother comes to me and practically shoves the book into my hands, eyes aglow as she gushes over the brilliance of the book.
The latest of these was Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale. I'd read Hale's "Princess Academy" sometime earlier and had enjoyed the independent, can-do attitude of her main character, so I looked forward to more of the same independence. And I wasn't disappointed.
The Rapunzel in this book is a strong character, out to do what's right. Traditional fairytales and Western tall tales are interwoven throughout the story, creating a rich background.
The original story of Rapunzel features a patient princess awaiting her Prince Charming to save her from the tower. This Rapunzel isn't waiting around, twiddling her thumbs. She takes matters into her own hands and doesn't let anyone else take the reins of her life.
With her loyal sidekick Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and his pet goose at her side, Rapunzel embarks on a quest to save her mother from the slave mines of "Mother" Gothel, a witch who's magic has stripped most of the land of all life. As Rapunzel and Jack travel to the heart of the land where Gothel lives, they encounter a wide cast of characters, some ordinary townsfolk, the others familiar figures from fantastic tales of yore.
And who doesn't enjoy a new twist on an old story?
-Entling No. 2

BookMoot adds:

Brava to Shannon Hale for adding depth and richness to yet another fairy tale. Rapunzel can snap her amazingly long braids like Indiana Jones can use a bull whip.

Elementary school librarians are keen to add graphic novels to their collections and this is a title that will be a great fit for elementary libraries and up. It is beautifully drawn, kuddos to Nathan (with a name like that you have to be good) Hale, and the storyline will appeal to guys and girls.