The Swan Maiden [Hardcover]

Howard Pyle (Author), Ellin Greene (Author), Robert G. Sauber (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994 | Age Level: 4 and up

The king's youngest son releases the Swan Maiden from servitude under the witch with three eyes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Retelling this late-19th-century story, Greene retains the feel and form of traditional folktale-so useful to storytellers-as well as Pyle's (1853-1911) conversational tone. When a king discovers that his tree is being pilfered of its golden pears, he sets each of his three sons, in turn, to catch the thief. The first two are lulled by otherworldly music; the youngest, who has stuffed his ears, discovers a lovely swan maiden, and instantly determines to marry her. First, however, he must free her from servitude to a three-eyed witch. Although Greene comments in an afterword about Pyle's stature as "one of the best teachers of illustration in America," there are no samples of his art for the 1888 edition of this particular tale. Instead, Sauber serves up glowing pictures with fairly conventional figures-blond prince and maiden; and a witch whose beaky nose and unkempt tresses are more noticeable than the eye in her forehead. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3?A fairy tale that resounds with familiar motifs. The youngest of three princes eludes the enchantment that overcomes his brothers and discovers the thief of the king's golden pears?a beautiful maiden bewitched in the body of a swan. Falling in love at first sight, the prince flies off on her back to confront a three-eyed witch and perform three "impossible" tasks (with the maiden's help), releasing her from the spell. Greene's retelling varies only minimally from the original. However, Sauber's paintings have a cigar-box sentimentality, are murky in color, awkward in form, and wanting in imagination. Where Pyle's maiden sits powerfully astride the pear tree's trunk, her white gown billowing around her, Sauber's beams giddily down from the tree top, looking for all the world like a Victorian saloon painting. Text and illustrations neither add nor pay homage to Pyle's version. As he was, indeed, "one of America's foremost writers and illustrators for children," and as the tale is still available in The Wonder Clock (Peter Smith, 1966), this current interpretation seems misguided and superfluous.?Marcia Hupp, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823410889
• ISBN-13: 978-0823410880
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,955,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)