ESTEBAN AND THE GHOST

by Sibyl Hancock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 1983

The classic Spanish folk tale, ""The Tinker and the Ghost"": ineptly adapted from Ralph Steele Bens-May Gould Davis, Three Golden Oranges, and illustrated with equal obliviousness to the story's dramatic values. Hancock: ""Long ago late in October a merry tinker named Esteban came to a village near Toledo. It was All Hallows' Eve, and he had heard a tale that excited him no end. Nestled in the golden hills of Spain stood a dark dwelling called Gray Castle, and it was said to be haunted."" Boggs-Davis: ""On the wide plain not far from the city of Toledo there once stood a great gray Castle. For many years before this story begins no one has dwelt there, because the Castle was haunted. . . . Learned doctors and brave adventurers had tried to exorcise the ghost. And the next morning they had been found in the great hall of the castle, sitting lifeless before the big fireplace."" Then Esteban arrives, to ""scornfully"" take up the challenge--whereas Hancock has him ""chuckling. . . delighted by the task."" But, most unfortunately, once the ghost's body has fallen down the chimney, piece by piece, she inflates and stretches out the search for the three bags of gold--making it into a separate, all-comic episode. Zimmer's characters, similarly, are quaint, befuddled, peasant stereotypes.

Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1983

Categories: CHILDREN'S