One-Eye! Two-Eyes! Three-Eyes!: A Very Grimm Fairy Tale [Hardcover]

Aaron Shepard (Author), Gary Clement (Illustrator)

Book Description

This is Two-Eyes.

She has two wicked sisters.

They make fun of her for having only two eyes and wonder why she can't look normal like they do.

But Two-Eyes will show them.

She's got a fairy godmother, a magic goat, and a handsome knight to help her outsmart her terrible sisters and escape far, far away.

With a spirited text that's fun to read out loud and humorous illustrations, this retelling of a Brothers Grimm tale is sure to become a new folk classic.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3—In the Grimm folktale, little Two-Eyes is despised by her family because she is common and sees as ordinary humans do. In Shepard's retelling, sisters One-Eye and Three-Eyes mistreat their youngest sibling because, having seen no one else, they believe her to be "different." Two-Eyes goes off to tend the goat, weeping because she's hungry. A fairy appears and tells her a magic spell that makes the goat provide food. In Grimm, as in Eric Kimmel's One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes (Holiday House, 1996), the goat is butchered after the sisters discover Two-Eyes's good fortune, whereas Shepard has them simply chasing the animal away. Instead of the fairy telling the girl to plant the goat's entrails, Shepard has her planting an ordinary seed. A tree with golden apples grows, and, because only Two-Eyes can pluck the fruit, she eventually marries the prince who asks for an apple. The alterations to the story are consistent with the lighthearted watercolor-and-pencil illustrations, which feature Two-Eyes microwaving her meager leftovers and One-Eye reading "Eye Claudius" while Three-Eyes peruses one book with one eye and a different volume with the other two. Children will enjoy the humor in this reincarnation, and it will make excellent fodder for reader's theater, with a script available on the author's Web site.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

An old tale gets a facelift in this lively version. Two-Eyes is treated badly by her sisters, One-Eye and Three-Eyes, who don't give her enough to eat. One day, she meets another two-eyed lady, who offers her an incantation that will provide plenty of food. The sisters become suspicious, but more charms ensue, leading Two-Eyes to a (literal) knight in shining armor. If the parameters of the story remain the same, the delightful line-and-watercolor artwork bubbles with sly, new details. Although the sisters' wardrobe suggests an earlier time, particulars such as a microwave and a TV add an amusing modernity. Some details will amuse adult readers most--for instance, One-Eye is shown reading Eye Claudius. On a more child-friendly level, one page is divided into six squares that show Two-Eyes up a tree, in every sense of the phrase, trying to sing her sisters to sleep. On the way to happily-ever-after, a good time will be had by all. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689867409
• ISBN-13: 978-0689867408
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sick of Cinderella?, June 3, 2007

By 

K. Coombs (Utah, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One-Eye! Two-Eyes! Three-Eyes!: A Very Grimm Fairy Tale (Hardcover)

Just when you've read your kid Cinderella for the million zillionth time, along comes Aaron Shepard to the rescue with this retelling of a less well known but very fun fairy tale. Poor little Two-Eyes is the weird kid in her family since she has an even number of eyes; her older sisters One-Eyes and Three-Eyes are, of course, perfectly lovely by cultural standards in the neighborhood. Two-Eyes must dress in rags, do all the dirty work, and eat only leftovers--until the goat she tends turns out to be magic and starts giving her food to eat. When Two-Eyes seems well fed for a change, her suspicious sisters decide to spy on her. All I can say is that if you're going to put your sisters to sleep with a magic charm, be sure to count their eyes VERY carefully first! Artist Gary Clement has a lot of fun with this tale, throwing in anachronisms such as a microwave and a box of tissues. Did I mention the fairy godmother, the magic apple tree, and the handsome knight/prince? Let your two-eyed child take a look at this story!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great edition of my favorite fairy tale, September 12, 2008

By 

Ulyyf "Connie" (NYC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One-Eye! Two-Eyes! Three-Eyes!: A Very Grimm Fairy Tale (Hardcover)

Little One Eye, Two Eyes, and Three Eyes was always one of my favorite fairy tales when I was growing up, so seeing it in its own picture book was just heaven to me.

And this version lives up to the one I grew up with, too.

Little Two-Eyes is despised by her sisters for being "different" (in the version I grew up with, it was for being normal, which makes more sense, but being "different" makes for a funnier punch line in the end) by having two eyes instead of one or three like they do. (Weirdly, they're shown watching TV with odd-eyed people.)

So they treat her like the classic red-headed stepchild - leftovers and rags - until she cries and cries. You can work out the gist of the end now, I'm sure :)

Very funny, and neat illustrations.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Fairy Tale, April 25, 2010

By 

Darien Summers "Author of The Mischievous Har... (San Francisco, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One-Eye! Two-Eyes! Three-Eyes!: A Very Grimm Fairy Tale (Hardcover)

I'm an adult, and actually just read this tale recently for the first time, and wondered how in the heck I had missed out of this one when I was a kid. I had never heard of it. Well, I just read it to my young daughter, and we both loved it. It has most of the elements of a well written fairy tale: magic, tragic drama and love.

The story is about three sisters named: One Eye, Two Eyes and Three Eyes. One Eye only has one eye, Two Eyes has two like everybody else and Three Eyes has three. Because Two Eyes looks just like everybody else, she is discriminated against by her sisters who look different, and even by her mom. Two Eyes is taught a magic spell which helps make things better for her until her curious family discovered what was going on and put a stop to her using the spell. Two Eyes is then told by a helpful old lady how to grow a magical tree. This tree's fruit can only be plucked by Two Eyes, so her sisters' and mother's mean diligence doesn't pay off. In the end, Two Eyes is rescued from the evil clutches of her family by a knight, and the two of them live happily ever after in a castle. One day, Two Eyes' sisters come asking for help and Two Eyes' does nothing out of spite from the past, and she takes care of her sisters - a nice ending, with a good message.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book.