THE GIRL IN THE GOLDEN BOWER

Another original fairy tale from the apparently bottomless imagination of Yolen (Here There Be Unicorns, p. 1546, etc.). This is the slightly convoluted story of an enchanted castle—wherein lives a terrifying beast—and the nearby woodsman's cottage. The woodsman lives with his frail wife of mysterious origins and their little daughter, Aurea. A sorceress comes and poses as a cook offering her services in exchange for room and board, but she is really looking for a charm she believes to be in the woodsman's possession. Unable to find it, she disposes of the man and his wife and tries to do away with Aurea as well, but she's foiled by the animals whom the girl has befriended. The charm is the comb that Aurea's mother gave to her on her deathbed. When the beast comes to the forest, the girl combs his mane with it and braids some of her own golden hair into his—and he becomes a man, the long-lost king and Aurea's grandfather. The sorceress is changed into a bird and chained by the wickedness in her own heart. Yolen's language is lovely as usual, but there are too many fairy-tale conventions mashed into this one story. Dyer's illustrations, however, are enchanting. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-8)