Clever Gretchen (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Margot Tomes (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: ugly princess, black geese, true bride, Maid Maleen, Mother Holle, Baba Yaga (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sleeping beauties? Not Clever Gretchen or Kate Crackernuts or Manka or any of the other young heroines in this wonderful collection of folktales. Active, witty, brave, and resourceful, these girls and young women can fight and hunt, defeat giants, answer riddles, outwit the Devil, and rescue friends and family from all sorts of dangers and evil spells. These stories and many others like them were gathered by scholars from all the countries of Europe, but are usually left out of the popular collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when women were supposed to be beautiful, innocent, and passive. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Allison Lurie is the author of nine novels, including Foreign Affairs (Pulitzer Prize 1985) and a collection of short stories, Women and Ghosts. She has also published two non-fiction books on children’s literature, Don’t Tell the Grownups and Boys and Girls Forever, and is the editor of The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales and American Fairy Tales. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ty Crowell Co (March 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0690039433
• ISBN-13: 978-0690039436
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #931,825 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the winner is...., April 10, 2002

By	Carabeth (the USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clever Gretchen and Other Forgotten Folktales (Library Binding)

Really- it sounds like a plain boring book- but it's not! No, From original stories like Clever Gretchen to Twisted ones like the sleeping prince or Mollie Whippie- it had all that and a bag of potatoes. My favourite was Kate Crackernuts. Then came the Sleeping Prince, next Manka and the Judge.
All of the tales are of strong women who outwit, set straight, and save the "Man's" world from GIANTS,bugurlers,enchanted sleeps (what did you think the sleeping prince was about?) and other horrible creatures.
THis book is a must- but you might understand the wording a little better if you're a pre-teen or teenager.Enjoy it, I did!