Laurel LongRezensionen

Laurel Long's illustrations are gorgeous! And since "The Lady and the Lion" is a variation of "Beauty and the Beast" and/or "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" that I've never encountered before, I can forgive the somewhat bland storytelling.

Happily Ever After! I enjoyed this almost gender-bent idea of the story of sleeping beauty. Absolutely GORGEOUSLY illustrated. Each picture could be taken out of the book and framed for how beautiful this book is. Excellent.

I was expecting a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story, but instead I got East of the Sun and West of the Moon which is even better! Of course, there's very little original material in the telling of the story (why mess with a classic), but what makes this book a great read is the stunning artwork. Long is clearly a master of oil painting, as each illustration is lush with colour, highly detailed, and perfectly composed. The background details are slightly more stylized than I'm used to seeing in classical oil painting (which often tends to a blurred softness), but this fits the storybook format quite well and leads the reader to focus on the more ornate foreground and subjects. My only complaint (and it's more of an observation than true criticism) is that Long mixes so many distinct stylizations (I got some Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Western, and Indian influences) that it might be a bit overdone for some tastes.

This book is beautiful. The amazing illustrations remind me of Da Vinci painting. And the story while at part is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, it is also something entirely new, with new edge. I loved everything about it. It may be a little long for story time, but it would be great for bedtime or rainy day reading.
#Wintergames #teamreadnosereindeer +16

I really liked this folktale, what I liked the most about it was the fact that the woman saved her husband in it. In a lot of folktales and fairy tales, it's always the man saving the woman. I found that the plot line for this was similar to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I know Disney got a lot of inspiration for their movies through stories and folktales, but it was fun for me to think of the similarities and differences throughout the book.

This book is a legend about a prince and his hound who was loyal to him through everything. one day the prince, now a king, has a son. While going to see the babe, he realizes that he is gone! Turning around he sees his dog with blood around his mouth and assumes the worst. Attacking his loyal friend, the dog runs away only for it to be discovered that the dog had killed a wolf that was trying to harm the baby and that the baby was alive.

A girl lost her grandmother and the only thing she left her was a nesting doll. It wasn't an ordinary doll thought, whenever Katya needed something all she had to do was open it. The only catch was she could only use it three times. It was supposed to be spring but she looked again and their was snow everywhere. She asked an innkeeper to wake her in the morning but they told her that ever since the prince has been frozen in ice there is no change in season or daylight. She told him that she will take care of it. She went to the castle to visit the boy. He was beautiful and seen that he was still alive from the rise of his chest. His uncle that watches him told her that no one has yet to break the spell and that she couldn't do it either. So, they sent her away. They kept trying to get rid of her but every time she was in trouble she opened the doll. Each one brought back the value things the townspeople missed. The bear, the wolf, and the firebird all used their magic to bring back the prince. When the sun came back the uncle turned into stone. But, the prince was still asleep. She kissed him and melted the last part that was frozen. This was such a good story, I've never read this one but I wish I was oilcloth have when I was young. The illustrations were so detailed and dynamic.

The story of Prince Llywelyn, Prince of Wales and his loyal wolfhound Gelert. Llywelyn romps with Gelert as a boy but as he grows, marries, has a son and runs the country, he has less time to devote to his dog, although Gelert remains loyal throughout. Llywelyn almost kills Gelert thinking Gelert has killed his baby son but realizes Gelert fought and killed the wolf that tried to get to the baby.

52 months - well illustrated and a good ol' fashion style fairytale!

This is a reverse tale of Sleeping Beauty wherein the lady rescues the prince and saves him from an frozen figure of living ice.

Set in Russian, the wicked Tsar has placed a spell on his successor. Before she dies, Katya's grandmother gave her a set of nesting dolls instructing her to open them only when she is in peril and needs assistance.

Using the nesting dolls to assist the prince, she is able to break the spell of doom gradually with each successive doll. In the end, it is her kiss that frees to prince. They live happily ever after.

The illustrations are incredibly lush, clear and astoundingly beautiful!

This book is about a man and his dog. It shows the loyalty of a dog, no matter what if you abandon it, the dog will always be loyal.

This is a retelling of a Brother's Grimm fairy tale, but without the harsh tone. This book has a great message. Love has no bounds. The princess in this story followed her prince till the end of the world. She was smart and cunning and found him even though all odds were against her. It's a classic Princess meets Prince, but nevertheless it was a great read. The pictures were fantastic and brought the story to life.

The immensely talented artist Laurel Long, whose breathtakingly beautiful illustrations can be seen in such fairy-tales as The Lady and the Lion and The Magic Nesting Doll, turns her attention to the Christmas season in this latest offering, giving holiday picture-book aficionados cause to celebrate. With an incredibly rich and varied palette of colors, and an amazing array of visual details - decorative borders, floral motifs, fairy-tale landscapes - she brings the classic song to life, creating a reading experience like no other. This book left me gasping. Literally. I became so engrossed in the artwork this afternoon - poring over all the beautiful little details, and searching for all the hidden images - that I forgot to breathe!

The paintings here reward the reader for looking, and looking again. Beautifully composed, they can be appreciated from afar, in their two-page totality, but they also invite the reader to come closer, to examine the many lovely details and little mysteries that are hidden in plain sight. For this edition of The Twelve Days of Christmas is more than just a beautiful picture-book presentation of a beloved carol - it is also a visual puzzle. Each painting depicts the gift being offered in its corresponding verse - which, in an example of excellent design, is inset in the page, in a slightly "whited out" box (artwork still visible underneath) that allows the text to be easily read - but also contains all the previous gifts, cleverly hidden in the details of the artwork, which the reader must hunt down. Some of them are quite difficult to find: after an hour of poring, and consulting the key (which can be found on the reverse side of the dust-jacket), I still couldn't see the partridge in the painting for verse eight. It's simply impossible to convey the richness and beauty of this book - it has to be seen to be believed!

Lavish, traditional illustrations.

In this INSANELY beautiful picture-book retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy-tale, The Singing, Springing Lark ("Das singende springende Löweneckerchen," in the original), a merchant and his daughter must confront the consequences, when the daughter's innocent request for a singing lark, and her father's not-so-innocent effort to obtain one, arouse the ire of a fearsome lion. Agreeing to live with the lion, in order to spare her father's life, the daughter discovers that her captor is actually a prince, cursed to remain in lion form during the day, but reverting to human form at night. Soon, the pair have fallen in love and married. But when an accidental exposure to candlelight sees her husband transformed into a dove, a dove who then flees, the lady must set out in pursuit of him, aided by the sun, moon and wind, and eventually rescuing him from the enchantress who wishes to keep him as her own...

With elements of both Beauty and the Beast (the merchant's illicit attempt to obtain the lark, his daughter's sacrifice of herself, to save him) and East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon (the quest to rescue the beloved, the aid given by natural phenomena like the sun, moon and wind, the conflict with the enchantress), this story has immense appeal in its own right, and will be of interest to fairy-tale lovers of all kinds. The lushly ornate artwork by Laurel Long - whose fairy-tale illustrations always remind me of the fabulous Kinuko Y. Craft - simply has to be seen to be believed! Two of my favorite scenes from the book are the one in which the lady meets the lion for the very first time, and the one in which the lady is aided by the moon, in her quest to rescue her beloved. Just beautiful! I will definitely be adding The Lady and the Lion to my permanent fairy-tale collection!

This is a fairy tale that reminds me of "Beauty and the Beast". It is about a young woman who goes to save her father who is trapped in a castle by a fearsome lion. However, when she gets there she is suprised to see that he is a kind prince by night who has been cursed. They fall in love and she must go on a very long journey to rescue him. This is a very powerful yet sweet story. And the illustrations are truely magnificent! There is so much detail, movement, and beauty in each illustration!

Genre: Folk tale

Review: This is an example of a folktale because it had been past down in Wales and changes within it are said to occur. It was based off of Prince Llywelyn and his dog but nobody knows how accurate the story is to real life. It also teaches the value of companions. No matter how little Llywelyn paid attention to his dog his dog remained faithful. Llywelyn recognized the significants of this too late.

Setting: The setting of this story takes place in Snowdonia, which is in Wales. The author and illustrator do a beautiful job of working together to keep the setting consistent and matching of the time period. When there is a change in location within Wales it is a reasonable change and fits the story.

Media: Oil Paints on Watercolor paper primed with gesso

In this story, in the family of Beauty and the Beast, the princess is able to look past appearances and realize the lion is kind-hearted and lovable. She remains loyal to her husband and endures much trials and heartache as she follows him, never giving up hope that they will be reunited. The story shows that courage and perseverance will be successful in having a happy ending. The illustrations are beautiful and colorful, capturing the fantasy element of the fairytale.

Age app: intermediate
Genre: Folk-tale
This was an excellent example for folk-tales. The story is based on Prince Llywelyn and his dog Gelert. The author does not confirm that the tale is true, only that, "In Wales, truth can be like the mountains, silent and unmovable. Or it can be like the brooks that trickle through the mountains-ever sparkling, ever changing, ever slipping into time."

This picture book relates a tale that greatly resembles The Beauty and the Beast, a love story a handsome prince who has been cursed to take the form of a lion and a merchant's daughter made to live with the lion because of a promise made by her father. This time, however, the story doesn't end when the young lady and the beast fall in love - much more is required in order to return the prince to his true self permanently and live happily ever after.
The illustrations are enchanting - in one image, the heroine's dress really does seem to glow! It's almost possible to forget about the text entirely and simply enjoy the pictures, which for the most part could tell the story quite effectively on their own. The text is characteristic of fairy tales and, while the story is interesting and sure to please anyone who enjoys the classic fairy tales, there isn't anything particularly striking about it. The captivating pictures are what make this book worth looking at.
This book is suitable for children who are around seven years old or older, as most pages do have more text than would be suitable for younger children.½

This is a wonderful fairy tale that if true love is followed then it can last forever and ever. The illustrations in this version of the Lady and The Lion are absolutely stunning. The use of line to show the swirling acts of the enchantress and how they effect The Lady are amazing. The pictures are almost a woodcut format.

Personal Response:
One of the best things about this book is the illustrations. They are everything that I feel fairy tale illustrations should be. The people are portrayed realistically and the details of the world are vivid, clear and detailed. I think I read that this is not really a traditional Russian fairytale which was a bit disappointing but I loved that it introduced the reader to matryoshka dolls and other elements of Russian culture such as the architecture of the palace.

Curricular/Programming Connections:
Show examples of matryoshka dolls
Read Russian fairytales
Look at costumes in this book. Research traditional Russian clothing. How accurate are the illustrations?

I was unfamiliar with this tale, and found it lovely and sad. I’ll admit I’m a sucker for “animal stories” and fully confess how easy it is to pull at my emotions. But this truly was a sad, bittersweet sort of a story – yes I cried. It was amazing how strongly connected the reader can feel with Gelert, the wolfhound, in such a short amount of time. I enjoyed how the story came full circle, ending with the Prince’s son in the same position, as “the luckiest lad in Wales,” that the Prince started at. The epilogue, with its vague, mystic tone, wrapped the tale up perfectly.

This would be great to use in a comparison contrast with other variations of the story.

This Welsh legend is the story of a prince and the dog who was his loyal companion. Through the story the prince learns the value of loyalty because though he often neglected his dog the dog never leaves his side making him a very lucky man.