SLEEPING BEAUTY
adapted by Margaret Early & edited by Margaret Early
An illustrator whose Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1989) was an ALA Notable renders one of Perrault's tales (without the concluding episodes about the ogre mother-in-law) in a similarly sumptuous style. A note details Early's sources—the very chateau Perrault envisaged, contemporaneous painters (Boucher and Fragonard), carefully researched architectural details and other period ornamentation. From opulent, skillfully draped fabrics to the fairies' diaphanous wings, from arches and turrets to intricate borders, her beautifully executed art is richly decorative. Unfortunately, it's less effective as illustration; the mannered 17th-century attitudes and gestures may be authentic, but they lack animation; the gold illumination and elaborate detail steal the show, especially since Early's adaptation, while adequately clear, isn't distinguished. Still, where affordable, a handsome evocation of the tale's courtly origins. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-9)