Sleeping Beauty

Starred review from September 30, 2002
So perfect are the Pre-Raphaelite details and gestures that it's easy to imagine Kinuko Craft's (Adventures of Tom Thumb) paintings hanging in a gallery. Her husband Mahlon Craft's enhanced version of Sleeping Beauty affords wide scope for the artist's romanticism. In a new episode at the outset, for example, the queen meets a frog that predicts the birth of her daughter; in the facing art, the queen, dressed in a diaphanous white gown, languidly loosens her hair ribbon, while the frog, brought forward by cunning attention to light and detail, waits to speak to her. The backdrop is a dark forest, and the effect is properly otherworldly. Farther on, when the king and queen discover the evil fairy's handiwork, the good fairy comes to ease their grief; Craft portrays the fairy descending from gilded clouds, driving a chariot drawn by dragons. The fairies are transparent, like spirits; the evil fairy is a gothic horror in black draperies. Aurora is ethereally lovely, the landscapes magnificent and the palace splendid. Families aiming to assemble a library of classic fairy tales may well settle on this as the definitive Sleeping Beauty. Ages 5-8.

September 15, 2002
Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. Illustrator Craft continues her series of sumptuously illustrated picture-book fairy tales with this story, with text written by her husband. It is a familiar tale: the beautiful Princess Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle and falls asleep, only to be reawakened 100 years later by the kiss of a young prince. Mahlon Craft relates events in formal language, using specifics that correspond to most traditional Brothers Grimm version. The lush, richly detailed, oil-on-watercolor paintings perfectly complement the text, with the artist skillfully using light to focus attention on particular sections of her picture. Borders of briar roses frame the text, and beautifully embellished capital letters head each "chapter," adding to the overall elegance of the book. No source notes are provided, and the small, delicate typeface may prove difficult for newly independent readers, but this is an attractive offering that will be popular with fairy-tale fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2003
This lengthy retelling embellishes the traditional tale, adding a scene in which the twelfth fairy returns to the sleeping castle in a chariot drawn by dragons. Exquisitely detailed illustrations lavish in color and design make this a suitable gift edition. The pictures feature elaborately adorned costumes, an abundance of flowers, and plenty of other details to pore over.

(Copyright 2003 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)