The Adventures of Robin Hood [Paperback]

Marcia Williams (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1995

Sprawling cartoon artwork, offbeat humor, and continuous action add up to a fresh and lively retelling of the folktale of Robin Hood, his merry men, and their battle against the wicked Prince John.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Don Quixote, Sinbad the Sailor and Joseph (with his coat of many colors) have all been give in exuberant new incarnations at the hands of the talented Williams, who here makes Robin Hood and his band merry indeed as she translates their feats into comic-strip-style art. Robin Hood's charisma and his colleagues' diverse personalities provide rich raw material for Williams's witty narrative and pun-filled asides, resulting in what may well be her most child-appreciated work yet. Her snappy text and characteristic, riotously detailed panel art recount a host of well-loved adventures, among them how the homeless, hapless Robin of Locksley comes to vow to help the poor under the nickname of Robin Hood; how Marian and Friar Tuck join the spirited outlaws; and how Robin, disguised as a beggar, tricks the Sheriff of Nottingham to win the Golden Arrow as the finest archer in England. Though not as vibrantly colored as in her previous volumes, Williams's inventively bordered art emphasizes the more subdued, earthy tones of the legendary Sherwood Forest-punctuated, of course, by Robin Hood's trademark Lincoln green. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. Using her well-loved, lively comic-strip style, Williams introduces a new generation of children to the legend of Robin Hood. Eleven adventures (usually two pages apiece) take the reader from Robin's first days as an outlaw to his death at the hands of the prioress of Kirklees. Familiar characters such as Little John, Maid Marian, and Friar Tuck appear, as well as Much, the Miller's Son, and Sir Richard of Legh. As appealing as Williams' goofy, pointy-faced caricatures are, her most arresting talent is her storytelling. Plots unfold simply, playing a cool straight man to the zany characters and their riotous asides--the best part of the book. When Maid Marian joins the outlaws, Robin quips, "We'll have to call ourselves a band of merry persons now." Such zingers, although so numerous as to compete with the text for attention, make this rendition of the Robin Hood legend both an easy laugh and an easy read. Julie Walton

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (March 6, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564025357
• ISBN-13: 978-1564025357
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 10.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,915,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marcia Williams is famous for her retellings of classic stories. From Shakespeare and Dickens to the Canterbury Tales and Greek Myths, her humorous comic-strip illustration is hugely popular all over the globe. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Paperback)

This book is absolutely fabulous! I was very interested in learning more about the famous tales of Robin Hood, but all the books about him were very advanced and I didn't understand many of the phrases. When I found this book, I read it and I was so pleased beause it is exactly what I wanted to find:tales about the adventures of Robin Hood and I was too happy to describe that I could understand every word! If you want to read about Robin Hood but cannot yet understand the advanced vocabulary of the writers from long ago, then this is the book for you!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read to Pieces, October 28, 2005

By 

David P. Whelan (Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventures of Robin Hood (Paperback)

This was a huge hit with both our 2 year old and 4 year old. The illustrations work like a comic book, so non-readers can figure out most of the story. Every 2 pages is a single "chapter" with blocks of text under each frame (about 12 frames per page) with narrative and dialogue in the frames themselves. The narrative was perfect for our 2 year old to hear, and our 4 year old enjoyed the dialogue, which was mostly simple humor about the story or frame. It's by far the most accessible Robin Hood we've found, giving the entire Robin Hood story arc rather than just Robin meets Marian, or Robin meets Little John. Candlewick is an excellent publisher and the paperback is pretty sturdy (although we have read ours to pieces, and so I'm looking for a replacement!)

7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Big Disappointment, December 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Paperback)

We were searching for a simple Robin Hood adventure story to introduce our children (ages 5,6, and 9) to the whole Robin Hood legend. We ordered this based on the rave reviews we read. What we received, however, was very disappointing -- v-e-r-y tiny text, written on absolutely horrible cartoon drawings. The stories were unintelligible without a magnifying glass and an appreciation for the author's rather lame attempts at humor. This was not the book we were expecting, especially for kids who were unfamiliar with the story and the characters. The pictures were just plain ugly, the text too small, and the storytelling abominable. Not a fun family read!