Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Yosemite Association $14.95 (36p) ISBN 978-0-939666-87-4
In this Southern Sierra Miwok legend set in the Yosemite Valley, two spirited bear cubs venture beyond their mother's watchful eye and fall asleep on a stone slab. As the two nap, the stone mysteriously grows into a mountainous tower (known today as
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Yearling Books $7.4 (32p) ISBN 978-0-440-41096-6
According to PW, this retelling ``preserves a surprising amount of drama-even in this truncated form, the plight of the scarecrow who loves a mortal girl retains its affecting overtones.'' Ages 6-10. (Sept.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $16 (1p) ISBN 978-0-385-24836-5
Aboard the Queen Calafia , two sisters and their mother are making a months-long journey to join their father, who has given up farming to join the hunt for gold in California. The goal is to reach San Francisco by Christmas, but the ``thick,...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $4.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-385-15874-9
The magnificent retelling of a Blackfeet Indian legend about a brave who wants to ask for the hand of his beloved. Ages 59. (May)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $11.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-385-23396-5
The San Souci brothers (The Legend of Scarface have retold the story of Ichabod Crane's last days alive, admiring the lovely Katrina and attending, at her father's home, a party where he hears of the Headless Horseman. Like A Christmas Carol, this...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $16 (1p) ISBN 978-0-385-42044-0
Portions of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story ``Feathertop: A Moralized Legend'' have been, of necessity, greatly altered for this picture book adaptation. Robert San Souci's retelling, however, preserves a surprising amount of drama--even in this...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing $17 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-80668-1
""You may think you know this story I am going to tell you, but you have not heard it for true,"" begins the washerwoman and unlikely godmother who narrates this spirited retelling. From the team behind The Faithful Friend comes an adaptation of a...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-02-786131-0
Readers of this talented duo's Sukey and the Mermaid can expect to be equally impressed by this striking volume. This time, San Souci and Pinkney travel to the island of Martinique for a supernatural tale of friendship between two youths, Clement...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Aladdin Paperbacks $7.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-82458-6
Set in Martinique, this impressive supernatural tale, which won a 1996 Caldecott Honor, ""neatly distills the flavor of the French West Indies,"" said PW's starred review. Ages 5-8. (Jan.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Brian Pinkney, Illustrator , illus. by Brian Pinkney. S&S/Aladdin $6.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-84888-9
Of this retelling of the Cinderella tale, set on the Caribbean, PW
said, "The lyrical cadences of the text spattered with French and Creole words combine with the sensuous paintings to bring the tropics to life." Ages 5-10. (Jan.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Putnam Publishing Group $6.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-698-11811-9
""Stories culled from the melting pot of American culture (Hawaiian, Eskimo and Native American, among others) unite a league of female folk heroes as courageous, irascible and noble as any of their more famous male counterparts,"" said PW. ""Scratch
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Stefan Czernecki, Illustrator , illus. by Stefan Czernecki. August House/Little Folk $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-87483-764-3
Poor Zigzag is a clownish patchwork rag doll with jester-like tufts on its head and rickrack for a mouth. Despite the hero's protestations of "I'm just special," all the other conventionally cute toys in the dollmaker's shop hate
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, David Shannon, Illustrator Dial Books $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1764-0
Prolific storyteller San Souci (The Talking Eggs; The Hired Hand, reviewed Apr. 14) embroiders a 12th-century folklore fragment into an unabashedly romantic tale of a star-crossed couple. A fisherman's daughter, Margaret, falls in love with Nicholas
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Chronicle Books, Author, Jan Thompson Dicks, Illustrator Chronicle Books $14.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8118-0412-7
Although well-researched, this version of a popular Hispanic tale is hobbled by inept illustrations and a low-energy text. The plot line is common to many folktales: a magical creature (here, a seven-colored horse) rewards the kindness of a boy (Juan
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Chronicle Books, Author, N. C. Wyeth, Illustrator Chronicle Books $14.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-87701-806-3
Best known for his illustrations of such classics as Treasure Island and Robin Hood , N. C. Wyeth also had a successful career as a muralist. In the '40s he created a series of murals for New York's Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, presented...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Chronicle Books, Author, Robet D. San Souci, Author , illus. by Rebecca Walsh. Chronicle $16.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-58717-212-0
With a princess who is not only kind but prefers "good books to good looks," San Souci's (The Talking Eggs
) clever adaptation of the classic British fairy tale brims with wit, quotable dialogue and a modern sensibility. Likewise,...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Phyllis J. Fogelman, Editor, Laszlo Gal, Illustrator Puffin Books $4.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-0862-4
``A perfect marriage of tale and art,'' said PW of this striking Oriental fable of filial love and duty. Ages 4-8. (May)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Lauren Mills, Illustrator Philomel Books $14.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-399-21581-0
This latest offering from the author of The Talking Eggs and The Samurai's Daughter is based on a story from Andrew Lang's The Green Fairy Book. As the result of a hasty promise made by his father, Ivan, a tsar's son, must flee the clutches of an...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Michael McCurdy, Illustrator Hyperion Books $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7868-0384-2
Just in time for the release of Disney's animated feature Tarzan comes this sturdy picture-book introduction to the famous character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. San Souci (The Faithful Friend) skillfully condenses a complex work of fiction into
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, J. Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Simon & Schuster $16.95 (33p) ISBN 978-0-671-67176-1
Children love nothing better than a good ghost story, and this wonderful version of a black American tale from the turn of the century won't disappoint. As the middle child of seven, Thomas decides he is the best one to venture to the city to earn...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, J. Brian Pinkney, Illustrator Aladdin Paperbacks $13.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-671-79248-0
This adaptation of two turn-of-the-century African American ghost stories ``will delight long after the last embers have died down,'' said PW. Ages 4-7. (Aug.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Stephen T. Johnson, Illustrator Dial Books $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1135-8
Illustrations of shimmering delicacy highlight this imagistic retelling of a Japanese legend. Tokoyo is the teenage daughter of a samurai in medieval Japan. When her beloved father is banished to a distant island by a deranged ruler, the resolute...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Stephen T. Johnson, Illustrator Dial Books $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1409-0
With this carefully balanced adaptation, the author and illustrator of The Samurai's Daughter turn their attentions once again to ancient Japanese legend. As he braves a dangerous blizzard, Minokichi, a woodcutter's apprentice, witnesses a...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Terry Widener, Illustrator , illus. by Terry Widener. S&S $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-83343-4
San Souci (Cendrillon) returns to a Caribbean setting for this composite tale relayed in lush jungle colors and featuring a macabre multiheaded monster. When the baleful Bird of Darkness, its seven eagle-like heads on serpentine necks, claims an...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Author Yearling Books $7.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-440-41029-4
Cool-hued, realistic illustrations suffuse this tale of night-time forest activity. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Author, Daniel San Souci, Illustrator Yearling Books $6.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-440-41074-4
This atmospheric retelling of Washington Irving's classic is ably complemented with detail-rich illustrations. Ages 5-9. (July)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Phyllis Fogelman, Editor, James Ransome, Illustrator Dial Books $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1640-7
Ransome's (Uncle Jed's Barbershop) strikingly realistic oil paintings form the backbone for San Souci's (The Talking Eggs) retelling of a folktale from Virginia Holladay's Bantu Tales and based on African-American Arkansas lore. As a childless...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Gary Kelley, Illustrator Dial Books $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1133-4
Its superb storytelling matched by accomplished art, this memorable picture book takes its inspiration from New England folklore traditions. Jonathan Dowse, an itinerant shoemaker in colonial New England, is lost in the woods when he comes across...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Sally Wern Comport, Illustrator , illus. by Sally Wern Comport. S&S/Aladdin $6.99 (42p) ISBN 978-0-689-84850-6
"The heroine strikes a blow for womankind in this high-spirited tale set in ancient Ireland," said PW. "Comport uses dark and rugged pastels and varying perspective to capture the drama of Margaret's adventures." Ages 5-10. (Feb.
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, David Ouimet, Illustrator Cricket Books $16.95 (159p) ISBN 978-0-8126-2688-9
Robert D. San Souci pens a collection of fantastic, frightful stories in Dare to Be Scared: Thirteen Stories to Chill and Thrill, illus. by David Ouimet. Selections range from short tales like ""Nighttown,"" in which a boy's vacation in the ...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, David Catrow, Illustrator , illus. by David Catrow. Harcourt/Silver Whistle $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-202482-6
When Tom Thumb, the diminutive star of European folklore, emigrated to Louisiana, he was reborn among Cajun storytellers as Ti-Poucet (the "ti" comes from the French "petit" or "small"). This frisky retelling casts the tiny...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, David Catrow, Illustrator , illus. by David Catrow. Harcourt/Voyager $6 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-205069-6
"No glass slipper appears in this often funny graveyard romance," PW
said. "Instead, the skeletal prince breaks the heroine's shinbone as she flees the Halloween Ball. A Cinderella story that girls and
boys will love." Ages 3-7.
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Jamichael Henterly, Illustrator Yearling Books $8.3 (32p) ISBN 978-0-440-41260-1
This installment of San Souci's Arthurian cycle smoothly retells the stories of the Sword in the Stone and the Lady of the Lake. Ages 5-10. (Mar.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Jamichael Henterly, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-385-41623-8
In a rather long text for the picture book format, San Souci ( Feathertop ; Young Merlin ) draws on an amalgam of sources to portray the young princess as she explores the enchanted forest around her father's castle and as she ultimately saves the...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Jamichael Henterly, Illustrator Yearling Books $8.3 (32p) ISBN 978-0-440-41291-5
The romantic story of the girl who would become King Arthur's queen has ""all the ingredients prized by fantasy aficionados,"" said PW; however, the tale ""occasionally becomes self-consciously weighty."" Ages 6-10. (Nov.)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Jamichael Henterly, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $15.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-385-32171-6
knight time Robert D. San Souci turns out the third book of his Arthurian cycle with Young Lancelot, illus. by Jamichael Henterly (see Young Guinevere, p. 78). The text is hampered by clicheed dialogue (Lancelot: ""You yourself say this is my...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Wil Clay, Illustrator, Wil Clay, Photographer Dial Books $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1284-3
A pair of brothers share one trait: a disinclination toward work. Clever Rabby provides for his family by looting food from the spirit-folk whose well-stocked house floats in the sky. Given the right commands, the house descends and its door opens....
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Laszlo Gal, Illustrator Dial Books $11.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-0304-9
This is a perfect marriage of tale and art. Skillful and immediate, the text retells a Chinese story of a poor weaver woman with three sons, two selfish and one loving. When her most precious handmade tapestry is blown away on a magical wind, two...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Yoriko Ito, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-385-32159-4
Kidnapped by an ogre, a child offers a precious amulet in exchange for his life in The Silver Charm: A Folktale from Japan by Robert D. San Souci, illus. by Yoriko Ito. Satsu's faithful friends a puppy and a fox cub rescue him in this traditional
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Alexi Natchev, Illustrator Doubleday Books for Young Readers $14.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-385-30934-9
In this unsettling tale a motley pack of dogs protects an elderly couple and a small girl by scaring off a band of encroaching Hobyahs, creatures with ``fur and claws and pointed ears and sharp teeth and tails half again as long as themselves.'' But
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Alexi Natchev, Illustrator Yearling Books $5.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-440-41212-0
A motley pack of dogs protects an elderly couple and a small girl by scaring off a band of sharp-toothed beasties; ""a strange hybrid of lyrical narrative and amusing illustrations, infused with unrelenting darkness,"" said PW. Ages 4-8. (June)
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Sally Wern Comport, Author, Sally Wern Comport, Illustrator Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing $17.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-689-81072-5
Copper-haired, fair-skinned Margaret strikes a blow for womankind in this high-spirited tale set in ancient Ireland. Margaret is content to run her small farm in County Donegal until the day a magnificent ship, captained by young Prince Simon,...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Gennady Spirin, Author, Gennady Spirin, Illustrator Orchard Books (NY) $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-531-05809-1
With this collaboration, San Souci and Spirin prove that gifted and loving hands can make old tales gloriously new again. Credited to Madame d'Aulnoy and first published in 1698, The White Cat contains many familiar (and well-loved) fairy-tale...
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Kimberly Root, Illustrator , illus. by Kimberly Bulcken Root. Dial $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-2111-1
Based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of the same name, San Souci's (The Talking Eggs) fable takes place in the colonial past but deals with a contemporary concern—the consequences of environmental destruction. The inhabitants of
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Jerry Pinkney, Illustrator Dial Books $15.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8037-1296-6
Seasoned collaborators San Souci and Pinkney (The Talking Eggs) weave themes of magic, rebirth and retribution into another splendid retelling of an African American folk tale. The story, told in homespun dialect, involves a stranger who turns up at
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Robert D. San Souci, Author, Kris Waldherr, Illustrator Dial Books $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-0799-3
This Russian folktale--made famous by the Stravinsky ballet--is ripe with the delicious ingredients of so many classic stories: a beauteous princess trapped in an enchanted garden, the evil sorcerer who holds her there, fierce dragons, a deadly...
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