By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: October 26, 2011
Fairy tales have the power to teach us valuable lessons about love, loyalty and friendship. In these stories, characters are transformed into magical beings, sacrifices are made in their honor and small creatures perform enormous acts of courage and daring. These classic stories have been told for many generations and yet their legend grows richer with each telling.
Michael Hague’s Treasured Classics has the old-fashioned appeal of books my mother once read to me. Reading “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” I fondly remembered my mom growling like the fierce troll under the bridge. With fourteen tales to choose from including “Jack and The Beanstalk” and “The Gingerbread Man,” children will marvel at the intricately detailed illustrations. It seems this book played a magic trick on me by transporting me back in time. (Ages 6-9)
Mouse & Lion is an unusually beautiful retelling of Aesop’s fable. Rand Burkert’s rich language embellishes the familiar story and Nancy Ekholm Burkert’s lush illustrations reflect the magnificence of the African landscape (with its brilliant orange setting sun and ancient baobab tree) in this heartwarming tale. Burkert has composed and recorded a CD of songs inspired by Aesop, also entitled Mouse & Lion. (Ages 4-8)
Brigette Barrager illustrations in Twelve Dancing Princesses reminded me of classic Disney movies such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but her version has a decidedly modern spin. When Pip the clever cobbler discovers why the sleepy princesses’ shoes are worn out each morning, she unveils the mystery with witty dialogue rather than long-winded descriptions of the enchanted forest, boat ride, and ballroom (yawn). Well done, Miss Barrager. A lovely matching game is also available from Chronicle Books. (Ages 5-8)
Bambi by Felix Salten is such a sad story and yet this coming of age tale brings with it hope and resilience. The soft watercolor paintings by Maja Dusikova of the sweet woodland creatures glow in the forest ligh
Hey- This is Michael's son, Devon, that also worked on the book. Just wanted to thank you for the well written and honest review.
The original draft of the book was actually quite a bit longer (could have easily been 300+ pages). It was also directed more towards and older teen/adult audience. What we are planning on, if we get to do more with this series, is taking a more Sandman sort of approach, putting out collections of short stories that take place in the aftermath of this, all around the world, and at different times (one story we have takes place 150 years after). It will give us a chance to get more character development and really focus in on a few stories we have been toying around with since we finished this first one.
We are currently working on a couple of brand new series. One is a scifi robots and monsters series that has the mystery elements of Lost thrown in as well. The other is about a young girl who discovers she has a third eye and her investigation into a murder mystery in Manhattan. We have about 6 or 7 other ideas that are in the ideation stage as well. We also just finished work on an awesome upcoming collection of ghost stories, that quite honestly could be some of the best work I have seen my father do. Anyhoo, great work on your blog! Have a lovely day!
Cheers!
Devon Hague
Hi Devon,
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your comment. The follow-up stories to "In the Small" really sound interesting as do all of your other ideas in the works. I can't wait to check out the collection of ghost stories...when can we expect to see them?