Flower Fables
Louisa May Alcott's Whimsical Collection of Fairy Tales
-
- $0.99
Publisher Description
<p>Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: Enter the enchanting world of fantasy and imagination in Louisa May Alcott's Flower Fables. This collection of whimsical tales introduces readers to magical creatures, talking flowers, and imaginative adventures, showcasing Alcott's storytelling prowess beyond her famous work, Little Women.</p><p>Key Aspects of the Book Flower Fables:
Fantasy and Fairy Tales: Louisa May Alcott's collection offers a delightful escape into a world of fantasy, where flowers come to life and magical adventures unfold.
Imagination and Creativity: The stories celebrate the power of imagination and the wonder of childhood, making them accessible to readers of all ages.
Literary Diversity: Flower Fables demonstrates Alcott's versatility as a writer, showcasing her ability to craft imaginative narratives beyond her well-known novels.</p><p>Louisa May Alcott, born in 1832, was an American novelist and author best known for her classic novel Little Women. Flower Fables reveals another facet of her storytelling talent, offering a delightful departure into the realm of fantasy and whimsy.</p>
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Written for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter, Ellen, when Alcott was 16, and first published in 1855, these six prosy fairy tales were chosen from a 1992 collection, Louisa May Alcott's Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories, edited by Daniel Shealy; Shealy provides an informative afterword here. Readers meet a cast of elves, fairies, brownies and sprites with such Shakespearean names as Willy Wisp, Moonbeam and Thistledown, and the children who occasionally dally with them. Thinly disguised morality lessons told in an over-upholstered style, they instruct the audience in the importance of various virtues. In "The Frost King," for example, elves resolve to conquer the ice-hearted ruler of winter through peaceable means ("Let us teach you how beautiful sunshine and love and happy work can make you"). More than a little dated, the stories grow tedious with lofty homilies (e.g., "little Annie dwelt like a sunbeam in her home, each day growing richer in the love of others and happier in herself"). Preiss's (The Pig's Alphabet) garish artwork further hampers an emotional connection to the stories. The lack of tonal subtlety is aggravated by a self-consciously multicultural-esque grouping of fairy folk with oversize but misshapen eyes and bizarrely pointed ears and chins. Even the typeface, which has distractingly flowery ligatures, is overdone. All but the most die-hard Alcott fans can skip this one. Ages 5-12.
