TRAIL OF STONES

by Gwen Strauss ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1990

As with Garfield's The Wedding Ghost (1987, an elaboration of ""The Sleeping Beauty"" illustrated by Charles Keeping), an author and illustrator have collaborated here on an imaginative extension of fairy-tale characters and ideas. In introspective soliloquies, a dozen familiar figures muse on the deeper meanings of familiar events: Hansel and Gretel's father on his lack of courage and his failed relationship with his returned children; the Seventh Dwarf on Snow White's foolishness and inaccessible beauty; Rapunzel's prince on his love and his blindness. Some of the poems are voiced by villains (Snow White's stepmother; Bluebeard); more come from ambivalent figures (Beauty's Beast; the Frog Prince's princess). These intriguing poems are subtle, complex, and valid in their insights; Browne's powerful, realistic b&w illustrations reflect their meaning with pathos and psychological depth. The handsome format should help introduce this fine collection to its appropriate audience, which will be--like the audience for the recent play Into the Woods--older and more sophisticated than the usual fairy-tale readers.

Pub Date: March 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990

Categories: CHILDREN'S