The Legend of Rosepetal
Grade 3 Up Brentano's Romanticist fairy tale seems to include every fairy tale device imaginable in conjunction with heavy dollops of symbolism, death and cruelty. There is one bizarre or cruel turn after another with no purpose. Perhaps one could make a case that it shows that one can survive child abuse. Almost half of the story concerns Rosepetal's vain and selfish mother. Rosepetal finally arrives on the scene only to be killed when her jealous mother accidently drives a sharp comb into her head. Not to fearRosepetal is preserved within seven glass coffins. After her mother's death, she awakens to a cruel foster mother. Now she is threatened with drowning and hit daily so that her "face was all black and blue, as if she had been eating blueberries." Sensitive souls will flee before an odd light tone is added at the end. Rosepetal marries a handsome prince and is sent a little prince by Heaven, who has related this hair-raising tale for a piece of gingerbread. Zweiger uses the same flowing line embellished with rich pattern found in The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1983) and Gift of the Magi (1985, both Picture Book Studios), but her colors are much darker in keeping with the tone of this work. Brentano's text, as translated by Bell, is skillfully written, and the many strands of the tale are tied together. However it is highly stylized and rather overwhelming. A book for historical or research collections. Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public LibraryCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.