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136 pp.
| NYRB
| November, 2021
|
Trade
ISBN 978-1-68137-582-3
$24.95
|
Ebook
ISBN 978-1-68137-604-2
$14.99
Reissue (1971, Random)
(
2)
4-6
Illustrated by
Alice Provensen
&
Martin Provensen.
Here are collected (and reissued from the 1971 original) twelve literary fairy tales from several different European traditions, including Hans Christian Andersen's "The Nightingale"; Barbara Leonie Picard's "The Three Wishes"; Seumas MacManus's "Feather o' My Wing." Readers may recognize Katharine Pyle's "The Dreamer" because of Uri Shulevitz's picture book
The Treasure, and Ruth Manning-Sanders's "The Seven Simons" contains the gist of
The Five Chinese Brothers without the racism. The voices of these master storytellers are unfailingly distinctive and involving; frequent full-page-plus illustrations in the Provensens' inimitable style provide robust accompaniment. A foreword by Joan Bodger (author of
How the Heather Looks) explaining the difference between a literary fairy tale and a folktale is a delightful bonus.