Thursday, November 20, 2008
A little princess
Author: Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Imprint: Bangkok, 2541
privileged, free-spirited young girl tries to adapt to life in a strict boarding school in this charming, critically acclaimed children's fantasy. Adapting a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, also the author of -The Secret Garden, the film shifts the story's setting to World War I. 10 year-old Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) has been left in a respected New York City boarding school while her British father heads overseas to fight. Filled with wild stories and a playful attitude, the unconventional Sara becomes popular amongst her classmates but quickly comes into conflict with the harsh headmistress, Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), who attempts to quash the child's individuality. The young girl's situation takes a serious turn for the worse when she unexpectedly receives word of her father's death, and, suddenly impoverished, is forced into life as a servant. Treated as a lesser class of person by her former companions, Sara instead befriends her fellow servants and turns to the power of imagination in order to maintain hope for the future. In addition to changing the story's setting, screenwriters Richard LaGravenese and Elizabeth Chandler add a layer of Indian mythology to the tale, allowing director Alfonso Cuaron the chance to punctuate the riches-to-rags fable with a series of lush, imaginative fantasy sequences. Though A Little Princess had difficulty attracting audiences during its initial run, its visual splendor and touching storytelling were praised by many critics, several of whom proclaimed the film one of the best family-oriented productions of its time.
Reviewing sorce:
The light princess
AUTHOR: George MacDonald
Imprint: Bangkok, 2545
It is the tale of a princess who is cursed by a mean, jealous, witch so that she has no gravity. The book is full of puns, so MacDonald makes much both of her weightlessness, and the lack of gravity in her character. Naturally her parents are upset and try to have her cured, but to no avail (although the efforts of a couple of Chinese philosophers to provide a cure are rendered amusingly). However the Princess is quite happy with her "light" state (of course it is in her nature to be always happy). In the way of things, a Prince appears, and falls in love with the Princess. Then the witch realizes that her curse has failed to make the Princess unhappy, so she takes further steps, which are thwarted by the selfless behavior of the Prince, and which result in the Princess recovering her gravity: not an unmixed blessing, but one which her new maturity allows her to realize is best in the long run.
This is a delightful story, told with just the right mixture of whimsy and mildly serious moral comment. The characters are lightly and accurately drawn (the Princess` parents and the Chinese philosophers in particular, are delightful), and the story is predictable but still quite imaginative, with a number of nice touches to do with the Princess` weightlessness. Maurice Sendak`s illustrations are wonderful as usual.
This is a delightful story, told with just the right mixture of whimsy and mildly serious moral comment. The characters are lightly and accurately drawn (the Princess` parents and the Chinese philosophers in particular, are delightful), and the story is predictable but still quite imaginative, with a number of nice touches to do with the Princess` weightlessness. Maurice Sendak`s illustrations are wonderful as usual.
Reviewing sorcr: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.Horton/lightp.htm
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man is the anthropomorphic protagonist in a fairy tale about a cookie's flight from various pursuers and his eventual end between the jaws of a fox. The Gingerbread Man makes his first print appearance in the May 1875 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine in a cumulative tale which, like "The Little Red Hen", depends on rhythm and repetition for its effect with one event following hard upon another until the climax is reached. Tales of runaway cosmestibles have been noted worldwide with pancakes predominating in 19th-century Europe. A gingerbread man as hero is a uniquely American contribution to the tale type. Modern twists on the tale include a gingerbread cowboy in a Wild West setting and a gingerbread girl who outwits the fox.
Reviwing sorce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gingerbread_Man
Goldilocks and the three bears
Imprint: New York : Scholastic, 1991
Review:
The Three Bears or Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a notable children's bedtime story. It first became widely known in 1837 when the poet Robert Southey composed it as a prose story, collected in his book The Doctor, although it was possibly based on an even older story.[1]
The story was very popular and retold by many others. George Nicol retold Southey's story in verse. According to Southey's story, a copy of which is displayed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Cumbria, the visitor to the bears' home was a "naughty old woman"; later versions of the story replaced the old woman with a girl named Silver-hair. George MacDonald mentions the three bears of Silverhair in his 1867 story The Golden Key. Joseph Jacobs included a fairy tale Scrapefoot in his More English Fairy Tales, identical in every respect to "The Three Bears" except that milk replaces the porridge, and the visiting character is a lame fox. This saw print later than Southey's version, but it may have predated it in the oral tradition; some have hypothesized that Southey heard a tale about a literal vixen and mistook it for a figurative vixen, a harridan.[2] Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" contains a reference to a version of the story with three hobgoblins instead of bears.[3] Goldilocks first appeared in the 1904 printing of Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes.
The story continues to grow and change. Recent versions include the story told from the point of view of the three bears. The story was humorously adapted into a popular song in 1946 by songwriter Bobby Troup; this song - like the original story - is often erroneously credited as "anonymous".
The story was very popular and retold by many others. George Nicol retold Southey's story in verse. According to Southey's story, a copy of which is displayed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Cumbria, the visitor to the bears' home was a "naughty old woman"; later versions of the story replaced the old woman with a girl named Silver-hair. George MacDonald mentions the three bears of Silverhair in his 1867 story The Golden Key. Joseph Jacobs included a fairy tale Scrapefoot in his More English Fairy Tales, identical in every respect to "The Three Bears" except that milk replaces the porridge, and the visiting character is a lame fox. This saw print later than Southey's version, but it may have predated it in the oral tradition; some have hypothesized that Southey heard a tale about a literal vixen and mistook it for a figurative vixen, a harridan.[2] Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" contains a reference to a version of the story with three hobgoblins instead of bears.[3] Goldilocks first appeared in the 1904 printing of Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes.
The story continues to grow and change. Recent versions include the story told from the point of view of the three bears. The story was humorously adapted into a popular song in 1946 by songwriter Bobby Troup; this song - like the original story - is often erroneously credited as "anonymous".
Reviewing sorce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks
The three little pigs
Author: Southgate, Vera
Imprint: Loughborough : Wills and Hepworth
Review:
Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring talking animals. Published versions of the story date back to the late 18th century, but the story is thought to be much older. The phrases used in the story, and the various morals which can be drawn from it, have become enshrined in western culture.
Reviewing sorce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Little_Pigs
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