Werner Thuswaldner

A collection of seventeen classic fables from Aesop, this over-sized picture book was German artist's Gisela Dürr's first children's book, and was based upon her thesis project at university. The fables themselves (originally in German) were adapted by Werner Thuswaldner, who recently released a lovely book about the history of the Christmas carol, Silent Night.

From the ubiquitous to the more obscure, this version of Aesop's Fables presents a range of tales that give an interesting introduction to an influential genre of folk literature. Here the reader will encounter old favorites, like The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, as well as unfamiliar selections such as A Dress for the Moon. I was somewhat surprised to see that Thuswaldner had omitted the concluding moral, that one usually finds in Aesop. As for the art, Dürr's pencil drawings were interesting, and quite expressive, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with the minimalist feeling of the book, with its many expanses of blank white page. Definitely not on the "favorites" list.… (mehr)