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Book Review: You Can’t Kill Snow White by Beatrice Alemagna, translated by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White by Beatrice Alemagna, translated from French by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong

Unruly, 2022

ISBN: 978-159270381

Available: Hardcover

Buy: Bookshop.org

 

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White puts a spin on the traditional story of Snow White by telling it from the Queen’s point of view. Alemagna reminds us of the darkness of the original Grimms’ tales and attempts to recapture and extend it by exposing the Queen’s evil plans, demented intentions, and murderous mind. We see her relishing the liver and lungs of the boar killed in place of Snow White that she believes are her victim’s and celebrating how “alive” and “renewed” she feels after feasting on them.

 

Although the idea of focusing on the Queen as narrator has great potential for enhancing the terror of the story and forcing the reader to feel the fear that children are protected from by modern re-tellings, Alemagna’s version does not go far enough. The fact that the focus on the queen cannot be maintained because she is not present at key points, like when the huntsman decides not to murder Snow White, causes breaks in the build up of tension. These breaks become longer and more difficult to bridge when the dwarves enter the picture and we are told by the queen that her heart is filled with “unspeakable pain” and she is full of “dread.” Are we meant to sympathize with her or to see her as so damaged that she is dangerous? Either way, the lack of development of the character does not shed much more light on her than we have had in the past.

 

It seems that rather than creating a new take on the story of Snow White, Alemagna has used it as an opportunity to showcase her art. The illustrations are plentiful and create a dark moodiness in a palette primarily of murky browns, reds, blues and golds with jolts of reds and pinks. The dwarves are Eastern European folkloric type figures, mainly bearded. The human beings typically suggest nightmares with elongated bodies, impossibly long hair, gaping mouths, and giant hands. There is much frenetic movement: sweeping, gorging, and screaming that is a much stronger portrayal of emotion and much more effective at eliciting it from the reader than the writing is able to do.

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White is published by Enchanted Lion Books under their new picture book imprint, “Unruly,” intended for older readers and adults. These publishers are on the right track by engaging the many readers who have, even since childhood, loved the way in which illustrations add depth and beauty to storytelling. What better way to draw out our deepest fears than to experience on the page the horrible pictures  we can only imagine from descriptions?

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Book Review: A Song for Barnaby Jones by Anna Taborska, illustrated by Reggie Oliver

 

A Song for Barnaby Jones by Anna Taborska, illustrated by Reggie Oliver ( Buy from: Zagava )

Zagava, 2022

Dusseldorf, 2022

ISBN: 978-3-949341-22-9

 

 

This is a lovely book about a lonely man who doesn’t quite fit in, who is caretaker to a cemetery and lives in the gatehouse, where there are strange noises in the dark and he feels that something is watching him. He decides to explore the catacombs under his house and accidentally encounters the night creatures that have been sharing his bedroom. Once they’ve been frightened away, he discovers he misses their noises and lures his friends back.

 

Looking at it as a picture book, there are design issues, such as blank page spreads in the middle of the book that disrupt the story’s flow. However, the  black and white drawings by Reggie Oliver are gorgeous and complement the story beautifully. A Song For Barnaby Jones, while it doesn’t qualify as horror, has its own darkness and wonder. While I’m not sure exactly which the audience for this is, it is easily one of my favorite books this year. Recommended for lovers of the dark, wistful, and whimsical.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Book Review: Poesy the Monster Slayer by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Matt Rockefeller

Poesy the Monster Slayer by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Matt Rockefeller.

Every page of this book made me laugh.

Cory Doctorow is the author of Pirate Cinema, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and Little Brother, three books I love, among many others. He’s also an activist for the EFF. This is totally different from his previous work that I am familiar with. It is a sweet picture book about a little girl who has done her research into how to defeat monsters and waits until bedtime to take action. Poesy is not afraid of the monster under the bed and doesn’t want to befriend it– she has creative plans to use what she has at hand to defeat them, and puts them into action, much to her exhausted parents’ dismay. It is short, funny, sweet, and easy to understand, with colorful, slightly cartoony illustrations. Poesy is determined to save the day, tiara in place, armed with bubblegum perfume and a butterfly net.

For early educators, here’s an opportunity to define parts of a book near the beginning of the book as Poesy and her dad debate the beginning, middle, and title page of the monster book he is reading her.

A side note, both Poesy and her mother are Black, adding a little diversity to children’s book illustration.

Highly recommended for children of all ages.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski