Book
The red wolf
Record details
- ISBN: 9780618055449
- ISBN: 0618055444
-
Physical Description:
print
1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 29 cm. - Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
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| Subject: | Fairy tales Princesses -- Juvenile fiction Knitting -- Juvenile fiction |
| Topic Heading: | Fairy tales Princesses - Fiction Knitting - Fiction |
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| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibsons Public Library | JUV PIC S (Text) | 30886000340261 | Picture books | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Horn Book Guide Reviews : Horn Book Guide Reviews 2002 Fall
Princess Roselupin, locked up in a stone tower, receives a golden box that contains balls of wool and a note: ""Knit What You Want."" The red wolf suit she produces transforms her into a giant wolf and breaks her out of her prison. Shannon has borrowed from Grimm, Macdonald, and Sendak to knit a deeply psychological tale. The lush illustrations at times send shivers down the spine, at other times convey a lighter mood. Copyright 2002 Horn Book Guide Reviews - Horn Book Magazine Reviews : Horn Book Magazine Reviews 2002 #2
Princess Roselupin, locked up in a tall stone tower, yearns for "the wild and dangerous world" her father wants to protect her from. While the russet-bearded king may be referring to the dense forest beyond, the world Roselupin gazes longingly at from her tower is the safe, contained one of a circle of children playing in the village square. On her seventh birthday, she receives a golden box that contains balls of wool and a note: "Knit What You Want." The red wolf suit she produces transforms her into a giant wolf and breaks her out of her prison. Reveling in her freedom, she starts into the forest in search of company, only to unravel her wolf suit and return to her princess shape. Locked up once again by her father, Roselupin contemplates her box of wool and knits a mouse suit for him, with more satisfactory, permanent results: a final, comic picture shows the king-now a mouse-watching from the tower as Roselupin runs to join the longed-for circle of children. Shannon has borrowed freely from Grimm, Macdonald, and, most obviously, Sendak ("no sooner were the words out of Roselupin's new red wolfy mouth, than she began to grow...and grow...and GROW..." "all day long Roselupin ate, and danced her wolfy dance, and howled her wolfy howl") to knit together her deeply psychological tale. The illustrations, a lush mix of watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil, at times send shivers down the spine (as when the dark woods swallow Roselupin whole), at other times convey a lighter mood. Often, the delight is in the details, as when Roselupin lies sleeping on the forest floor, her hair darkened from gold to russet after her experiences in the wild world. The mass of hair blends into the carpet of fallen leaves, making her one with nature and implying, perhaps, a new power equal to her father's. Copyright 2002 Horn Book Magazine Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2002 February #2
An original "princess in a tower" tale with a startling twist. A never-revealed donor gives seven-year-old Roselupin a chest of yarn with the note: "knit what you want." Having spent her entire life in a tall tower, thanks to an overprotective royal father, she takes thought, then knits a red wolf suit that causes her to grow hairy and huge enough to burst through the walls. After celebrating with a wild dance, she sets out to find others like her-not noticing that the costume is unraveling behind her. When the frightened king sends out searchers to discover what became of the monster, they return with the dour princess, who soon finds herself locked into an even stronger tower. Undaunted, she again takes thought, and knits her father "a rather mousy-looking pair of pajamas." Though the scarlet behemoth bounding joyously through ankle-deep woods makes an arresting central image, readers willing to look more closely at Shannon's shadowy, atmospheric paintings will find subtle clues in little Roselupin's face that there's more to her than meets the eye. Though turning her father into a mouse may seem a rather draconian way to win freedom, her tough-mindedness may give children feeling similarly smothered both amusement and vicarious relief. (Picture book. 8-10) Copyright Kirkus 2002 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2002 January #3
A canny seven-year-old princess and a trunkful of knitting wool bring down the house or, more accurately, the castle tower in this cleverly told tale. Locked up by her father to protect her from the dangers of the world, the princess Roselupin knits her magic birthday yarn into a fuzzy red wolf suit. "If the world's too wild for the likes of me,/ Then a BIG RED WOLF I'd rather be," she says. Becoming a red wolf so big she bursts right out of her tower, Roselupin revels in a day (and night) of freedom. But the next morning, in a development explained only in the illustrations, a thread catches on a twig and the princess's suit unravels. Captive again, the imperturbable Roselupin uses more yarn to knit her father "a rather mousy-looking pair of pajamas." The final picture shows a forlorn mouse in a crown gazing out the window as Roselupin runs to join a circle of children in the town square. Shannon's (Gullible's Troubles) antic mixed-media art will have readers howling, too; in one spread, the gargantuan wolf revels in a dazzling selection of baked goods offered by courtiers who seem lilliputian by comparison. The old-world castle town and the dark forest are the stuff of classic fairy tales, but Shannon's sly humor and resourceful heroine are eminently her own. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information. - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2002 May
PreS-Gr 3-This liberating modern fairy tale with a most inventive heroine celebrates the joy and, indeed, the necessity, of freedom. Like many fairy-tale princesses before her, Roselupin is locked in a tower-in this case, by an overprotective father who deems the world "a wild and dangerous place." On her seventh birthday, a mysterious donor sends a seemingly innocent gift, a golden box full of wool. The enclosed message, "Knit what you want," makes the king laugh, but the resourceful girl uses it to pull the wool over everyone's eyes-literally. As she climbs into her newly knitted red wolf suit, Roselupin calls to mind Maurice Sendak's Max. Indeed, her actions that follow are very much like those of the wild things, as she grows and bursts beyond the confines of the page frames and then revels in eating, dancing, and howling her way through the day. As she sleeps freely under the stars that night, she dreams of dancing with other wolves in a circle. Though her wolf suit unravels, and the misguided king once again locks her up, Roselupin is not out of wool yet. In a very satisfying conclusion, she gives the king a taste of his own medicine and the last glimpse readers have is of her joining the circle of villagers dancing. Shannon's brightly colored illustrations and the creative design and layout enrich this original, delightful tale. A thoroughly enjoyable story of empowerment.-Robin L. Gibson, Perry County District Library, New Lexington, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
