Customer Reviews

Sleeping Beauty

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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It seems like every illustrator in the world has done a version of some fairy tales, especially "Sleeping Beauty." It offers great pictures, after all. But Mercer Mayer did something different... he added zest to the tale! He sets it in Celtic Britain, with lots of Celtic motifs added to the illustration. He also starts before the King got married, so we get a brief idea of who the King and Queen are who want a child so badly, and why the wicked fairy was not invited to the christening (and sort-of why it offended her). The Blue Faerie and the Star Faerie are your leading players in here -- once again, Sleeping Beauty herself is fairly passive (only in Robin McKinley's "Spindle's End" is she the active heroine) -- but the tale doesn't suffer. We even learn more about the prince, his relationship to the fairies and Sleeping Beauty, and why he had to love her "more than life" to wake her up. This book, along with beautiful illustrations (even if he does sometimes go overboard with the hair), is chock full of ideas, seeds... images and suggestions that say, "This should have been a novel." At any rate, you will appreciate the explanation behind the characters as well as the beautiful art.

This is a beautiful rendition of the classic tale. The author has creatively added more background to the characters. This gives each more depth and makes their interactions more complex. One inventive twist of the tale is that the prince is the son of the fairy who cast the curse. This sets up an intriguing juxtaposition between the two families and the fact that the princess is mortal while the prince is immortal. The author adds new themes to the story such as the sacrifices of love, the freedom forgiveness brings, and most importantly the eternal quality of love. The illustrations in this book are very dramatic and have an ethereal quality. The total work is captivating and memorable.

First I must say that it would be hard for me to let go of this book as it is one of the most beautifully illustrated and retold Sleeping Beauty books I have had read.
The authors use of Celtic mythology and in my opinion is based on Avalon & The Lady of the Lake, Vivianne. Read it and tell me what you think?
Looking closly at the illustrations the Blue Faery wears the crown of the cresent moon Symbolizing a Priestess of the Goddess.
A must read!!!!!! Not short of Beautiful!

In this story the kind and the queen have a baby. So they decided to throw a party, everyone was invited, but the wicked fairy. The three good fairies waved their wands over the baby granting her very special gifts. The first was beauty, then kindness, then the wicked fairy came and said when she is sixteen, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and she will die. Then the last good fairy said she will not die, but she will sleep until a prince comes and breaks the spell, so they burned all of the spinning wheels they found except for one. Eventually when she turned sixteen she found some stairs and walked up them, found the only last spinning wheel that there was and reached out to touch it, and pricked her finger. Then she went to sleep on a little bed. The three little good fairies put a sleeping spell on the castle. Only the prince could break the spell, the wicked fairy made a great forest of roses around the castle. The castle slept for 100 years. The prince found the castle one day and cut through the rose forest with his magic sword. After the wicked fairy turned into a dragon he fought her and won. He went into the castle and found sleeping beauty sleeping...

I think this is a good book for kids to read, it teaches you to always invite everyone so you dont make them feel bad, and to never say something bad will happen to someone cause it might.