By its Cover: Fairy Tales by Burlie Doherty, illustrated by Jane Ray
randomly:
Fairy Tales by Burlie Doherty, illustrated by Jane Ray
I was reading books to my daughter this evening, and I'd just finished 10 Little Ballerinas for the tenth time in the last three days, when I said, "I'm picking the next book."
"Okay, Papa."
I suppose she was patronizing me, but I wanted to read something else. Something with a little more... I don't know. A little more something.
This version of Fairy Tales, re-imagined by Burlie Doherty and illustrated by Jane Ray, was near at hand (somehow, almost magically, appearing very close to where we were reading--a kind of fairy tale in and of itself).
"I'll chose the fairy tale, Papa," she said. Okay. Fine enough. I read the titles and touched the pages.
As I held the book, I was struck by its heft, which is constructed as if meant to last more than a generation. And the illustrations are extraordinary. Which makes the jacket extraordinary, of course. It is enticing, this jacket, by illustration alone. And the interior pages are even more remarkable.
I suppose I could say a thing or two about the contents, since I've read it all. The stories are, well, the fairy tales you're familiar with. Cinderella. Hansel and Gretel. Beauty and the Beast. Closer to the true fairy tales than their Disney counterparts (and thus a bit more frightening). The prose is not especially lovely or musical or even striking, and this might be what qualifies it for good children's text.
However, my daughter chose Hansel and Gretel, as she often does. I know why she does. She wants to see the house made of candy. She wants to hear about the house made of candy, to imagine the house made of candy. But we seldom get this far. She doesn't want the children to be lost in the forest (and neither, of course, do I), she doesn't want to encounter the witch who threatens to eat the children, and she doesn't want to get to the thrilling conclusion (dad's not so bad after all... he was just henpecked by a hideously malicious wife).
So we look at the pictures, and she asks questions about the candy house, about the witch, about the story's ending. And this is okay too. I'm interacting with my daughter. And we're looking at some of the most gorgeous pictures I've ever seen in a children's picture book. What, honestly, could be better than this?
By its cover, Fairy Tales is striking. By its interior, it is remarkable. As a whole, I still can't believe they're selling this book for twenty bucks.
Blessings.
// posted by terry@bainbooks.com //
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