Me and You

Me and You

Anthony Browne 2010

Anthony Browne does an interesting take on the classic "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" story.  Instead of being set in the woods, the three bears live in a nice part of the city.  When "Goldilocks" gets separated from her mother, she finds her way to the Bears' bright house.  Browne doesn't give anyone names or explanations and uses the artwork to show the different lives between the littlest bear and the girl who trespasses into their home.  If you've gotten bored with this familiar story, Browne's fresh treatment of it might be just the thing!

What a cute little face!

The Buried Moon

 This morning's moon was large and luminous hiding behind the clouds before it set.  I always love moon books. 

The Buried Moon 

Joseph Jacobs

pictures by Susan Jeffers 1969

Susan Jeffers' drawings are dark and mysterious in this tale about how the moon gets caught and buried so that all the boggles and horrors of the darkness can have their way in the night.  This old story comes from Joseph Jacobs' More English Fairy Tales from 1893.

Sleepy Time Tales

I can't seem to track down the illustrator of this book.  It was published by Current in 1981 (they made greeting cards and stationary).  As an 80's kid myself, these pictures definitely have that 80's flavor and they are somehow both fantasy/fairytale and country cozy at the same time.  

Sleepy Time Tales

adaptations by Nan Roloff

1981

These look like they might have a different illustrator (and a bit of Holly Hobbie flair).

Beneath the Moon

Beneath the Moon

Yoshi Yoshitani 2020

We recently took a little trip to Maryland to see my new baby niece.  The hotel we stayed in was within walking distance to a diner and a Barnes and Nobel.  Breakfast and books, perfect!  We spent a long time in the YA section suggesting books to Charlotte.  She's my pickiest reader but when she gets a book she likes she often reads it in a day and will re-read it over and over again.  I found this book and kept picking it back up again to see the pictures.  They're just stunning!  I ended up buying it just for me!  I like that the stories are condensed to just one page.  It's like a little "snack" of reading.  The collection is pretty diverse and includes some rather odd tales (but then aren't most fairy tales/myths pretty odd!).  "The Woman Who was Kind to Insects" was my favorite story.

This was a slightly different version of Tam Lin than what I'm used to.

I've always loved the Crane Wife (it also makes me think of the Decemberists' song).

Snow White a Graphic Novel

 This is a unique version of the fairy tale Snow White told in graphic novel form.  It's set in the 1920's and features the familiar titular character, her loving father (here a millionaire) and the vain stepmother (as a gold digging Zeigfield star).  The seven dwarfs are portrayed as a band of protective raggamuffin orphan boys and the "magic mirror" is cleverly replaced by a sinister stock ticker tape machine.  It's nice to have variety in retelling these old stories.

Snow White 

a Graphic Novel

Matt Phelan 2016

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul Galdone

 Paul Galdone of Anatole fame retells this fairytale and illustrates it with some wonderful pictures.  I always thought the story of Rumpelstiltskin was odd because it's never explained who he was or where he came from, or why he wanted the baby.  It also bothered me as a little girl that the king only married the miller's daughter because she could turn straw into gold, not because he actually loved her!  And also because her father put her in such an awful position.  But then, fairytales are sometimes like that.

Rumpelstiltskin

retold and illustrated by Paul Galdone 1985