Customer Reviews

The Children of Lir

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is superb when it comes to the pictures in the book, but I was unimpressed with the way this "Clann Lir" was told. There are many ways to tell the story, but this version seemed far from anything I've ever heard. The children's names are different from the origional names, the events that occur are completely different and so on.

I have loved this story since I was a little girl, and wanted to find it for my own daughter. It is such a wonderful tale of love and devotion. I highly reccommend this book for any fairy tale lover!

The children of Lir is a an Irish folklore retold by Sheila MacGill-Callahan, illustrated by Gennady Spirin.
the tale is about jealous step mother, bad step mothers are staple in folklore. Quite dramatic for really young children, but the god thing is that this book, even it is a picture book, delights also 12 years old girls. Thanks to illustrations which are a little bit more grown up, and still appropriate for children.The story itself is about collaboration and help in face of severe adversity, and the heroes are animals who help humans in need, and outsmart the evil one.

The very detailed illustrations by Gennady Spirin are stunning. He won international awards,and you will see why.The technique is masterful as of Old Masters, of North Renaissance, and skillfully translated into the world of children illustration.

As for retelling the story: the author states in her note that she did it loosely. Which is no problem for me if the author notifies the reader she/he took the myth as point of departure for her imagination. she also mentions a carved ancient stone slab on the island of Inniseel. the slab depicts four swans and four people, two men and two women. Interesting nice detail.

While this book is beautifully presented and decorated with faboulous images the same cannot be said of the content, the legend of The Children of Lír is one of Ireland's most important legends and has been handed down faithfully for countless generations, untill now.
This legend may seem rather harsh for young children and may sometimes be "watered down", stepmothers are nothing new but turning them into horrible flying beasts can be difficult to explain, as can explaining why they are jealous of the children and want to kill them . The true legend goes into great detail about the 4 children, now swans, and their trials and struggles over the 900 years of the curse. The whole point of the legend was that the children couldn't be killed, they were Tuatha De Dannan, their father was a god so they were cursed and there are some things worse than death.
MacGill-Callahan does not even get the names of the children right never mind sticking to the legend, I could understand "watering it down" for younger children but to completely rewrite and still call it the Children of Lír is pushing it. This book should have a large yellow sticker on the front of it saying "BASED ON THE LEGEND OF THE CHILDREN OF LíR" because thats where the similarity ends. If you want beautiful images based on Irish myths and legends see the master, Jim Fitzpatrick, if you want real Irish legends...... see Jim Fitzpatrick for that too, or ask a real Irishman.