Review by Booklist Review
Ages 6^-8. Sisters and best friends Snow White and Rose Red have an enchanted forest in which to play and a variety of woodland creatures with whom to play. This faithful retelling of an original Grimm folktale is enhanced by Sanderson's rich oil paintings. The girls and their mother are appealingly realistic characters, who have unusually friendly relationships with animals, which is important, since there are no other humans in the story. Drama and suspense come into the story with the sudden appearance of an enormous talking bear, who is soon befriended by the family. Evil is introduced into the girls' lives in the guise of the greedy, grouchy dwarf. Young readers may be unfamiliar with this story but will enjoy the action as the sisters rescue the dwarf three times before he comes to a bad end. The protagonists grow up and proceed to find happiness in this traditionally told tale. --Karen Morgan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It always seems like sunset in this straightforward, amiable retelling of the Grimm fairy tale about two opposite but equally adorable sisters. Sanderson (Papa Gatto) uses rusty tones and a heavy hand with highlights, creating heroines whose warm coloring blends perfectly with the woods they roam in and with the firelit domesticity of their mother's neat cottage. This telling offers no departures from the original: the girls and their mother shelter a talking bear during the winter; the girls repeatedly rescue a snarling, ill-tempered dwarf; the bear slays the dwarf and is revealed as a prince. In Sanderson's pretty, traditional paintings he emerges in blond and golden glory, and later marries gentle homebody Snow White while his brother marries the more carefree, vivacious Rose Red. It's a pleasingly old-fashioned storybook edition of the classic tale; see Bernadette Watts's Snow White and Rose Red (see p. 77) for more childlike visuals and a crisp translation of the original. Ages 4-8. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4This thematic distant cousin to "Beauty and the Beast" tells of two young beauties befriending a bear who is actually a prince under an evil spell. After they rescue an ungrateful dwarf three times, the girls witness the bear's assault on the dwarf and the prince's release from the spell. Cause and effect is a bit shaky in this tale, but the picture book is true to the Grimms. Unlike Snow White & Rose Red illustrated by Gennady Spirin (Philomel, 1992), this simplified retelling eliminates the Grimms' religious undertones. The smooth text, marred a bit by some careless grammar, is the basis for the illustrator's large oil paintings enhanced by pictorial grace notes on the text pages. Sanderson's strength lies in architecture and landscapes. The human beings, carefully and skillfully drawn from life, often seem stiff and out of place in their environments. The most successful beings here are the two sisters, sturdy little girls with a sweet energy, and the dwarf who is satisfyingly nasty. The language is too sophisticated for beginning readers, but the pictures give a solidity to this slight tale that makes it enjoyable for young listeners.Sally Margolis, formerly at Deerfield Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Sanderson's retelling of this story--in which two sisters are rewarded for their kindness to a bear who is actually an enchanted prince--contains little embellishment and retains some of the flavor of the original. Her romantic oil paintings convey a world in which there is little to fear. The bear, although large, is unintimidating, and he kills the dwarf behind a boulder, out of view of the reader. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
