Customer Reviews

The Wonder Clock (Starscape)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My father heard these stories as a child. He read them to me. I read them to my kids and my grandkids. The vocabulary, the cadences, the varied plots and the sheer magic of these tales is timeless. The poems at the beginning of each chapter are related to the hours. Kids insist that you read them too. Pyle always sees to it that bullies, evil magicians, cheaters and older nasty siblings get their comeuppance. Little ones enjoy that aspect. Great archaic words are dusted off along with long disused similies and metaphores. It's the kind of book that comes to mind when you meet a bright eyed new child who has read everything else or seen everything else. At age 70 I still keep a copy in my bed's head board. Rap, tap, tap he knocked at the door.

The Wonder Clock book has been a favorite source of bedtime stories for three generations of Leadley boys (my father, myself and and my son). It is best read (and read and read ...) from ages 7 to 10. The book contains 24 separate faux fairy tales that are just the right length for a 15 minute bedtime story. The short stories are bound together by a metastory of the "wonder clock" that whisks the narrator off to observe and recount the other 24 tales. Each story is preceded by a short, illuminated poem, starts with a scrollwork capital and contains at least two wonderfully ornate illustrations. DO NOT buy a copy of this book which doesn't contain the original illustrations! They are part of the "wonder" for young readers. The stories are set in the Middle Ages somewhere in northern Europe (¿Belgium, Holland or southern Germany?) and feature lots of minor kings, princes, princesses, woodcutters, swineherds, ruffians, rogues and magical creatures. Caveats: 1) Although the Wonder Clock book can be read alone by precocious readers as early as second grade, I would recommend a joint reading the first time through with asides on morality. It is my belief that the actions in stories that feature villians being dragged to death behind wild horses, beatings, blindings, whippings, etc. need to be given moral context when a young child is first exposed to them. 2) I'm not sure whether this book would have as powerful an appeal to girls. Among us, my grandfather, my father and I have only raised one girl out of ten children (my aunt) and don't have much experience to offer. Upon reading the book again from an adult prospective, I've found the female protagonists (the wise queen, the wise princess, the magical Swan Maiden, etc.) curiously passive. Even Princess Golden Hair, who treks to the end of the earth in search of her beloved husband banished by magic, seems unassertive. Conclusion: Kids, especially boys, love it. Don't feed it to them unadulterated :-).

I agree with everything Scott Leadley said, with the additional comments that 1) my daughter, now 10, has always loved these stories as much as my son, in spite of the lack of active female characters (at least on the side of Good); 2) Pyle, like Kipling, understood how to write a story that would be read aloud to children. The paragraphs are short, the vocabulary pointed, and something interesting happens two or three times a page; 3) as Pyle admits in the introduction, the elements of the stories are extracted and mixed from classic fairy stories; for example, in one story the hero kills a dragon by digging a pit, waiting until the dragon crawls over him, and stabbing it in the belly, an obvious borrow from the event in the 'Volsunga Saga' in which the hero Sigurd kills Fafnir the dragon. If you know the older stories you'll enjoy spotting Pyle's sources.

I have been searching for this book for quite a while. The stories included are gloriously written and the illustrations are phenomenal. The reason I started looking for it again was because my Grandson will soon enjoy it. He is only 5 years old, but again, I started reading it (repeatedly) starting at age 7. I think I re-loaned it until my card was worn out! I will get him his very own copy and I know he will enjoy it as much as I.

The narrator of the twenty-four stories (plus an introduction) finds a special clock in Father Time's attic, which strikes on the hour with songs and puppet dances. "Four and twenty marvelous tales, one for each hour of the day" all start with a verse to coincide with that particular hour. Drawings are included to add further depth. Each ends with a morality lesson, which never interferes with the story, but helps wrap up that entry.

This nineteenth century collection is remarkable in different ways depending on the reader. The tales provide insight into daily household life and the morality of a bygone era. The contributions also furbish delightful fairy tales for the young at heart that are enhanced by superb figures of speech and tremendous illustrations with a finale moral lesson. This collection is a winner and will send many a reader searching for other works by Howard Pyle.

Harriet Klausner

This is the most wonderful collection of fairytales, which I first encountered in the third grade and have reread countless times since. I'd rank it with the multicolored Fairy Book series by Andrew Lang as world class for this genre. A classic!

One of the most wonderful children's books there is. A reader's delight. I miss the larger format of the copy I had while growing up, but the book is well made and the illustrations are crisp and exciting. A must have.

If this is the same book my dad had, and used to read to us, it is amazing. Great stories, and the verbiage and illustrations (by howard pyle) are the best. The paperback --also listed for sale here--doesn't seem to have the illustrations, or they are not mentioned. If you at all like the original Grimms Fairy Tales, you'll love this book

The Wonder Clock is one of my favorite books of all time. I am now 76, but I read it (and it was read to me) throughout my childhood. Its stories had morals, but they were subtle; your nose was not rubbed in it. The language is stimulating, because it`s slightly archaic, not slangy. Some of the stories are dramatic and some are very funny. (Some would be scary to 3-4 year olds.)

In subsequent years in my professional life, I came to realize that these stories are about peasantry--its moral sense, its lack of productivity, its class structure. In fact, when I was in graduate school, I was detailed to assist another grad student from Central Europe in writing his dissertation. He was himself a peasant and wanted to explain to Americans what peasantry was all about. His English was excellent, but his writing skills were meager. If I had never read The Wonder Clock, I could have made nothing out of it.

I suppose the point is that Wonder Clock can be enjoyed at many levels. Kids love the fanciful stories that are a little more tart than Mother Goose. And the parent can get a lot out of them, too. I have read this book to my grand children and they loved it.

I'll keep it short and sweet, the *Dodo press* edition of this classic title is *completely without illustrations.* This book is robbed of much of its beauty and utility without them.

Do not order the Dodo Press version. I had to send it back and it's unclear (at the time of this review) that the Dodo press version is not illustrated until you receive it.