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roseleaf24's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this story and its charming (screen-printed?) illustrations. The folktale is light and fun, and honors varying talents.
cathyolibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the illustrations, and the story is fun and a little silly.
crystal_reading's review against another edition
3.0
1938 Caldecott Honor
This one really cracked me up. The King is sad "because he could not find a worthy maiden for a bride, a princess who would be as good-looking as himself." Too too much for me not to giggle.
I found a funny saying too, "in less time than it takes to braid the hair on a bald man's head."
Somehow, though many things in the story were simply outrageous, it struck me as humorous and so it worked for me.
This one really cracked me up. The King is sad "because he could not find a worthy maiden for a bride, a princess who would be as good-looking as himself." Too too much for me not to giggle.
I found a funny saying too, "in less time than it takes to braid the hair on a bald man's head."
Somehow, though many things in the story were simply outrageous, it struck me as humorous and so it worked for me.
calistareads's review against another edition
3.0
I have been trying to read this book since I set the goal to read Caldecott books. I couldn’t get this at my library, through ILL or at the Library of Congress, so I ended up buying this book used for some reason. I don’t know why, but this is one I wanted to read. This is a book from the first year the Caldecott award started.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
2.0
A nice setup for a folktale but not a lot of point to it. A Caldecott Honor book, but I guess old ones the words must have been a lot more important. This one was long and wordy. And the art though nice, was strictly decorative.
beecheralyson's review against another edition
2.0
Caldecott Honor 1938 - Interesting illustrations - more for the intricacy that was probably unique for the time, but the story annoyed me. If they talked one more time about being the most beautiful, etc. I might have thrown the book.
daisycakesco's review against another edition
3.0
Intricate 4 color line drawings - I especially liked the drawing of the tower which had, as its skeleton, a simple spiral.
This is an old folktale that centers around the idea that a king is so good-looking he can't find a bride who matches him in beauty. Yep. It's all about appearances. He's good, kind, and rich, too, but beauty is what's most important to him in a bride. Of course, when he finds one who IS beautiful enough, she, though stolen from her father and homeland, falls in love with him immediately because he is SO good-looking. That definitely gave me a giggle. But it's a folktale, so of course 95% of the story is completely far fetched. But overall, this was an enjoyable story.
This is an old folktale that centers around the idea that a king is so good-looking he can't find a bride who matches him in beauty. Yep. It's all about appearances. He's good, kind, and rich, too, but beauty is what's most important to him in a bride. Of course, when he finds one who IS beautiful enough, she, though stolen from her father and homeland, falls in love with him immediately because he is SO good-looking. That definitely gave me a giggle. But it's a folktale, so of course 95% of the story is completely far fetched. But overall, this was an enjoyable story.
calistareads's review
3.0
I have been trying to read this book since I set the goal to read Caldecott books. I couldn’t get this at my library, through ILL or at the Library of Congress, so I ended up buying this book used for some reason. I don’t know why, but this is one I wanted to read. This is a book from the first year the Caldecott award started.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.