TILABEL

by Patricia Coombs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 22, 1978

Cutesy yet unappealing, Tilabel is a young groundhog who doesn't like to work. But, when the queen passes by, Tilabel's mother makes her out to be a veritable drone--and so Tilabel is taken to the palace and put in a tower to spin, weave, and sew shirts for Prince Grundel's birthday. There three variously misshapen old groundhogs come to her rescue and do the work; and at the birthday party, when they attribute their respective deformities to years of spinning, weaving, and sewing, Tilabel is forbidden by the now-doting prince to do any more such work. And, after Tilabel becomes queen, ""she makes up a lot of new holidays""--including Groundhog Day. You guessed it; Coombs simply recasts a common variant of ""Rumpelstiltskin"" (clever but less compelling than the more familiar one) and, for a frill, makes it the genesis of Groundhog Day. It's a good old story yet, but Coombs merely adulterates it with her too-precious depictions of all concerned.

Pub Date: March 22, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1978

Categories: CHILDREN'S