Flower Fables

Louisa May Alcott. Okey-Doke Productions, Inc., $22 (112pp) ISBN 978-0-9660933-0-8

Written for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter, Ellen, when Alcott was 16, and first published in 1855, these six prosy fairy tales were chosen from a 1992 collection, Louisa May Alcott's Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories, edited by Daniel Shealy; Shealy provides an informative afterword here. Readers meet a cast of elves, fairies, brownies and sprites with such Shakespearean names as Willy Wisp, Moonbeam and Thistledown, and the children who occasionally dally with them. Thinly disguised morality lessons told in an over-upholstered style, they instruct the audience in the importance of various virtues. In ""The Frost King,"" for example, elves resolve to conquer the ice-hearted ruler of winter through peaceable means (""Let us teach you how beautiful sunshine and love and happy work can make you""). More than a little dated, the stories grow tedious with lofty homilies (e.g., ""little Annie dwelt like a sunbeam in her home, each day growing richer in the love of others and happier in herself""). Preiss's (The Pig's Alphabet) garish artwork further hampers an emotional connection to the stories. The lack of tonal subtlety is aggravated by a self-consciously multicultural-esque grouping of fairy folk with oversize but misshapen eyes and bizarrely pointed ears and chins. Even the typeface, which has distractingly flowery ligatures, is overdone. All but the most die-hard Alcott fans can skip this one. Ages 5-12. (June)

Details

Reviewed on: 05/04/1998

Genre: Children's

Hardcover - 132 pages - 978-1-64799-505-8

Hardcover - 210 pages - 978-1-55709-954-9

Hardcover - 120 pages - 978-93-6372-240-8

Hardcover - 82 pages - 978-3-7340-6317-6

Hardcover - 132 pages - 978-1-64799-505-8

Hardcover - 194 pages - 978-1-01-572945-2

Hardcover - 98 pages - 978-1-77441-289-3

Open Ebook - 110 pages - 978-1-64181-106-4

Paperback - 78 pages - 978-1-5023-4814-2

Paperback - 106 pages - 978-1-5089-7888-6

Paperback - 98 pages - 978-1-5396-5345-5

Paperback - 98 pages - 978-1-9778-2210-9

Paperback - 100 pages - 978-1-9743-4663-9

Paperback - 100 pages - 978-1-9795-3538-0

Paperback - 214 pages - 978-1-4979-8390-8

Paperback - 52 pages - 978-1-5004-0946-3

Paperback - 130 pages - 978-1-64799-504-1

Paperback - 84 pages - 978-1-4812-2019-4

Paperback - 108 pages - 978-1-4783-7054-3

Paperback - 70 pages - 978-1-5121-9924-6

Paperback - 80 pages - 978-2-38274-030-9

Paperback - 104 pages - 978-1-4953-2483-3

Paperback - 88 pages - 978-1-61720-960-4

Paperback - 96 pages - 978-1-5440-8288-2

Paperback - 98 pages - 978-1-5407-7086-8

Paperback - 106 pages - 978-1-5413-5567-5

Paperback - 70 pages - 978-1-5121-9924-6

Paperback - 78 pages - 978-1-5023-4814-2

Paperback - 106 pages - 978-1-5089-7888-6

Paperback - 98 pages - 978-1-5407-7086-8

Paperback - 106 pages - 978-1-5413-5567-5

Paperback - 98 pages - 978-1-5396-5345-5

Paperback - 82 pages - 978-1-5466-8973-7

Paperback - 88 pages - 978-1-61720-960-4

Paperback - 114 pages - 978-1-5287-1411-2

Paperback - 82 pages - 978-3-7340-6316-9

Paperback - 130 pages - 978-1-64799-504-1

Paperback - 80 pages - 978-2-38274-030-9

Paperback - 194 pages - 978-1-01-573470-8

Paperback - 82 pages - 978-1-5195-1632-9

Paperback - 70 pages - 978-1-5229-1154-8

Paperback - 60 pages - 978-1-5308-9514-4

Paperback - 168 pages - 978-1-9793-3214-9

Paperback - 88 pages - 978-1-9793-2316-1

Paperback - 110 pages - 978-1-64181-105-7

Paperback - 100 pages - 978-1-5452-7253-4

Paperback - 100 pages - 978-1-5441-7644-4

Paperback - 116 pages - 978-1-5485-5043-1

Paperback - 118 pages - 978-1-5471-1945-5

Paperback - 88 pages - 978-1-9791-3430-9

Paperback - 216 pages - 978-1-0912-0732-5

Paperback - 194 pages - 978-1-0934-9450-1

Paperback - 214 pages - 978-1-0936-9115-3

Paperback - 194 pages - 978-1-0953-5491-9

Paperback - 232 pages - 978-1-0727-5300-1

Paperback - 144 pages - 978-1-0752-5450-5

Paperback - 152 pages - 978-1-0727-4934-9

Paperback - 78 pages - 978-93-5342-447-3

Paperback - 84 pages - 978-1-5431-9012-0

Paperback - 152 pages - 978-1-0776-9783-6

Paperback - 92 pages - 978-1-7276-6292-4

Paperback - 106 pages - 978-1-6596-3526-3

Paperback - 70 pages - 979-8-6042-0461-0

Paperback - 96 pages - 978-1-6794-2236-2

Paperback - 96 pages - 978-1-6512-2792-3

Paperback - 166 pages - 978-1-6754-7799-1

Paperback - 88 pages - 979-8-6119-2374-0

Paperback - 128 pages - 979-8-6168-1201-8

Paperback - 108 pages - 979-8-6169-3571-7

Paperback - 98 pages - 979-8-6220-9779-9

Paperback - 120 pages - 978-1-714-52080-0

Paperback - 142 pages - 979-8-6202-3409-7

Paperback - 98 pages - 979-8-6251-2663-2

Paperback - 98 pages - 979-8-6256-5792-1

Paperback - 82 pages - 979-8-6066-3159-9

Paperback - 96 pages - 979-8-6341-5893-8

Paperback - 96 pages - 979-8-6423-8341-4

Paperback - 106 pages - 979-8-6344-4844-2

Paperback - 96 pages - 979-8-6313-9283-0

Paperback - 78 pages - 979-8-6324-5246-5

Featured Children's Reviews

Lauren Agra Deedy

In this jubilant, dialogue-driven story with a “Cinderella”-like arc, a child seeks to help family by searching for a much-needed item. Every month, William watches as Mami and Continue reading »

Rashin Kheiriyeh

“In a city so old, they call it ancient,” seven-year-old Rose’s grandfather, Baba joon, is an expert rug weaver, working mornings in a large factory and afternoons on his home Continue reading »

Charis Cotter

Cotter (The Dollhouse) delivers an unusually poignant adventure in this 1960s-set retelling of the Grimm brothers’ The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Phoebe “Bee” Griffin, 12, is Continue reading »

Julie Flett

With a tranquil narrative voice and collage-like artwork in subdued colors, Cree-Métis creator Flett (Just Like Grandma) tells the “rather true” story of May, “a big black cat Continue reading »