The Gate of Dreams
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The Gate of Dreams, illustrated with six colorplates from oil vignettes and lively silhouettes throughout, is reminiscent of classic fairy tale editions. Yet the three stories, which appeal to adults as well as children, are entirely new. The sympathetic characters in "The Woodcarver's Daughter", "Franz the Fool", and "The Girl of the Bells", along with the rural settings of these stories, recall to the reader that sense of delight, recognition, suspense and wonder found in the classic tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Indeed, it was the revered fairy tale scholar Bruno Bettelheim who first suggested the publication of the fairy stories of Lillian Somersaulter Moats.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This trio of original fairy tales features a stock cast in stock situations. But the prose is, if not quite purple, solidly lavender: ``Her true colors were as inscrutable as a chameleon's. But at her heart of hearts she secreted the green of envy, the yellow of spleen.'' A maker of animated films, Moats redeems herself somewhat with her artwork, especially her fine black-and-white silhouettes, which convey an impressive range of emotion and lend the tales a timeless quality. The full-color oval portraits that frame each tale, however, seem dated. Moats would do well to take a cue from her own crisp silhouettes: she is at her best when she strives for simplicity, not ornamentation. All ages.
