This enthralling folktale by one of today's most popular and highly honored authors comes to life in paintings of remarkable power and beauty. Nicholas Pipe, a merman who, through a magic spell, can live on land, falls in love with Margaret, the daughter of a fisherman. As their love blossoms, Nicholas and Margaret must defy her father, the jealous sea-folk, and even the king himself. Full color.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6. San Souci has woven his magic once again. This retelling of a folktale about a merman who comes to love a woman of the land is well told and intriguing. According to the source notes, this character can be traced to legends from the 12th century. Nicholas Pipe is an enchanted merman who lives on land, needing only to touch the sea each day. He is a kind neighbor and falls deeply in love with Margaret, Marius the fisherman's daughter, who is forbidden to speak with him since the merfolk caused her brother's death some years before. As the tale unfolds, Nicholas saves the lives of Margaret and her father in a storm, but is captured by the king's soldiers when Marius reports him. Margaret's deep love and truthful words influence her father and together they rescue the dying merman and return him to the sea. In a moving conclusion, Nicholas swims back to Margaret, proposing and offering her a perfect pearl from his sea world. Shannon's stunning acrylic paintings are fitting to this powerful story. The text is framed by rough-hewn wood decorated with a single rose and seashell. The richly colored, yet subdued full-page pictures carry the story from sea to land, from storm to calm, with emotional depth. Nicholas Pipe should take his rightful place on the folktale shelf in every library.?Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 5-9. Margaret, the fisherman's daughter, loves the merman Nicholas Pipe, who is caught between his world beneath the waves and hers on shore. He lives on land and walks upright like a man, but he must touch the sea every day or he will die. Margaret's father forbids her to talk with Nicholas Pipe, blaming his sea people for the drowning of her brother. When there is a storm at sea, the merman saves Margaret and her father from his angry sisters in the wild waves. When the king's horsemen imprison Nicholas in a cage, Margaret saves him with her life-giving salt tears and with the sea water she pours over him. San Souci says in a brief note that the story is based on a twelfth-century tale that ended with the merman dead. The happy ending here depends on the father's turnabout, which is a bit contrived, but the Romeo and Juliet love story has elemental appeal, and Shannon's dark, glowing acrylic paintings express both the romance and the storminess of the lovers, who break boundaries and transform the world. Hazel Rochman
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A romantic fairy tale (best for older children),
By
This review is from: Nicholas Pipe (Hardcover)
This story, based on a short 14th or 15th century fairy tale, is compact and sophisticated. The themes of prejudice, longing, isolation, determination and courage are woven together into a story of forbidden love between a merman and a human woman. He is transformed into a man, but must touch the sea everyday or he will die; she loves him, but must stay away because of the prejudices borne of a family tragedy. It's a well-told story that really does leave you guessing until the very last page whether the ending will be happy or tragic.
The author has wisely chosen not to use words for everything in the story but rather lets the illustrator fill in the blanks with haunting portraits of emotion, some of which are more abstract than others. While you know from the brief introduction that they have taken license with their original material, you can't help but feel by the end of the story that the original authors would approve.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
