The Castle of Pictures: A Grandmother's Tales, Volume One (Castle of Pictures & Other Stories) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Mary Warshaw (Editor)
Key Phrases: turquoise brooch, Miss Barbara, The Castle of Pictures, Mama Laura (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8?A collection of fairy tales Sand wrote for her grandchildren. As products of 19th-century France, the selections are characteristically long, ornate, and didactic. They have been carefully translated for a 20th-century American audience; the long sentences have been broken up and the obscure vocabulary has been made more accessible. Sand's stories include botanical information?not surprising given her love of gardening and flowers?and some moralizing about the proper role of art in the lives of women artists. Obviously, readers' tastes in fairy tales have changed, and adults have become more sophisticated in their expectations about plot and their sense of how children intepret implied, rather than overt, messages and themes. Full-page pencil illustrations appear throughout. This volume will stand as an important contribution in preserving Sand's breadth of accomplishment, and literary scholars will be interested in it, but its appeal to children is limited.?Ruth K. MacDonald, Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-6. As indicated by the subtitle, these stories (three stories and a mininovella) were written by Sand "to educate as well as entertain her granddaughters." The text used for this translation was based on a 1983 French edition entitled Contes d'une Grand-Me{Š}re. The stories are true to Sand's romantic style and rich vocabulary, including the scientific language she used to give lessons in the midst of tales of magic. Within the structure of the classic literary fairy tale, she teaches about nature, self-reliance, and the importance of hard work and provides a strong moral conclusion. Both text and structure are rather sophisticated, making this title most appropriate for larger fairy-tale collections that focus on historical materials. Black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout. Janice Del Negro --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 175 pages
• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY (September 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558610928
• ISBN-13: 978-1558610927
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,757,564 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unexpected surprise, May 17, 2001

By	megan (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This book surprised me. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it wich was not something i expected to be able to say. The stories were interesting and intreaging. Goerge Sand is nothing less then a literary genuis, her stories reminded me of when I was younger. In her Story "What Flowers Say" I could definitly identify with the young girl since when I was that age I too wondered what the flowers talked about when I wasn't there. I would recomend this book to people of all ages it is simply a great book, writen by a truly awesome writer.