Tag Orchard Books (Scholastic Inc.)

Rumpelstiltskin

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Rumpelstiltskin
retold by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Carson Ellis
Scholastic Orchard Books

In this retelling of the classic fairy tale, Mac Barnett uses a modern chatty stye. and understated humour. ‘Her father , a poor miller, was a nice enough guy, but he had a big mouth. He told wild stories and bragged all the time. Here, I’ll give you an example.’

One morning, said miller was on his way into town to sell his wares when he encountered the king coming the opposite way. The two got talking and in an endeavour to impress the king, Tom (as he introduces himself to the king) tells a big lie, claiming that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Unsurprisingly the king wants to meet the girl and then comes the classic tale about demands to use the spinning wheel and spin the straw she’s given into gold; if not she’ll have her head chopped off. (How can any woman be stupid enough to marry so cruel a person, one wonders)

Three times this happens, with the girl doing a deal with the little man who conveniently appears on each occasion. On the third night the king promises to make the girl his queen. And in true classic style she becomes a queen, bears him a son and in her joy, forgets that she’s promised this child to the straw spinner. However her happy life is about to be disrupted for back comes the little man and seeing the queen’s tears makes one more deal. The name guessing starts the next morning after the queen has collected a long list of names. Failure ensues twice and a thoroughly distraught queen decides to take a walk in the dark forest with her little one.

On the way back she hears the vital information she seeks and on day three, well, you know what happens. Thank goodness her highness enjoys walking in the woods.

Carson Ellis’s painterly gouache illustrations, inspired by 18th century fairy tale art and portraiture of the Renaissance era are a great complement to the telling, while the black and white illustrations resemble wood-block prints.

Doubtless both old stagers and youngsters will enjoy this, though for different reasons and the latter will likely demand re-reads.

Santa’s Marvellous Mechanical Workshop / Santa Shark

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Santa’s Marvellous Mechanical Workshop
Vashti Hardy and Katie Cottle
Scholastic


It’s Christmas Eve and Lily has just moved into a new house but it doesn’t feel like home, there’s no food in the cupboards and she hasn’t got a single friend in this neighbourhood.


Acting on her mum’s suggestion to go upstairs and unpack her own things, Lily sets to work. She labels, sorts and organises until it’s almost time for bed. Then at the bottom of a box, she comes upon a wrapped package. Inside is a book but the cover and pages are blank. So it seems, but then a strange tiny creature waves and almost the next thing she knows, Lily is surrounded by snow and is being given warm clothes by the creature who tells her that it’s called Widget and is one of Santa’s elfbots. Moreover, she learns, Santa needs her help.

The bot leads Lily to Santa’s workshop wherein many more elfbots are busy making new toys. This isn’t however, where Lily’s assistance is required. In another section, Santa’s favourite, are all manner of old, broken toys. What’s needed Lily is told, is her imagination.

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Can one little girl, one tiny bot and a lot of ingenuity transform piles of what looks like junk into wonderfully exciting toy inventions?


When asked what she would like in return for her efforts, Lily tells Widget her dearest wish before falling fast asleep on the sleigh. What will next morning bring: sadness at missing Santa’s visit or hope and the envisioning of making a new exciting family home?


I love the combination of creativity and up cycling in this magical seasonal story. It’s perfect for sharing in classrooms especially where there are children recently arrived from different parts of the world, and feeling like Lily as Christmas approaches, whether or not it’s a festival they would celebrate.

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Santa Shark
Mike Lowery
Orchard Books (Scholastic)


Ex-sea-dingly silly, laugh out loud sea-sonal fun is to be found ‘neath the waves in the company of Edgar the shark. It’s late in December and elasmobranch, Edgar, is getting ready to receive a very special guest; it’s none other than Santa Shark. For this he enlists the help of his crab best pal, Lotta. Lotta however has never before heard of Santa Shark so she takes a bit of convincing, but before long she agrees to assist Edgar. As they work together preparing for the visitor, readers are treated to a plethora of puns such as the making of Christmas cods

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and a rendition of “We fish you a Merry Christmas.” However as bedtime draws near, Edgar suddenly has a horrible realisation: there’s no snow. What’s to be done? If there’s no snow, it means no visit from Santa. Can anything cause the desired precipitation? Perhaps the lovely Lotta might have a brainwave …
Dramatic illustrations and a zesty text will amuse both child and adult readers aloud.