Seven Ravens

In one of the Grimms' more unsettling tales, a father's idle curse turns seven brothers into ravens, and their young sister, feeling responsible, sets out to find them. En route, she confronts a hostile sun (which ``ate little children'') and an equally savage moon; finally, she must sever her own finger and use it as a key for unlocking the door to a glass mountain where she meets her brothers. Sauvant's oil paintings, however resplendent, play up the story's bizarreness rather than help readers make sense of its peculiarities. Her work can be nightmarishly surreal, as in the transformation of the brothers from ravens into boys, or her evil-looking sun-her treatment may be artistically coherent with the text, but it does not serve the target audience. Ages 5-8. (Dec.)