Little Mouse and Elephant: A Tale from Turkey - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 3?Two folktales retold by an experienced storyteller are presented in small, square volumes. The less familiar Little Mouse is a "numbskull" story about an insignificant rodent with delusions of grandeur who convinces himself, if not the other animals, that he has defeated an elephant. The familiar Grimm tale follows the adventures of four abandoned domestic animals as they triumph over a band of robbers. Both books set the illustrations, pastel watercolors framed in wide white margins, on pages opposite the texts. The boxed-in figures are stylized and deliberately naive in conception, their actions frozen. "The Bremen-Town Musicians" has been retold in many picture-book versions, notably by artist Ilse Plume (HarperCollins, 1987), who uses similar pastel colors and naive style, yet creates a livelier and more expressive visual narrative. The Turkish story, for which no specific source is given, can be found in Barbara K. Walker's A Treasury of Turkish Folktales for Children (Linnet, 1988; o.p.). Yolen's fluid style enlivens each tale, but the illustrations do not have the same verve.?Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.