Description:
No kid should have to grow up without a healthy helping of King Arthur and his noble knights (to better understand Monty Python later in life, if nothing else), and this stunningly illustrated, faithfully recounted collection has few equals. Originally published in 1962, the handsome reprint includes the same illustrations that made the original so compelling: the late Swedish artist Gustaf Tenggren (also responsible for the bestselling kids' book of all time) captures these stories' bravado and high adventure with majestic, almost theatrically composed paintings, many of which stretch dramatically over two pages. Tenggren's credits also include the original concept art for Disney's Snow White and Pinocchio, and you'll find that same posed, classical style here. (Although be warned that, like the Arthurian legends themselves, things can get a little messy, whether it's Lancelot's sword splitting Meliagrance's helmet in half or the giant Taulurd getting his arm chopped off by Sir Tor.) Tenggren's illustrations are clearly the star of the show, but the collection also features excellent text from Emma Gelders Sterne (who was pretty noble herself, as a civil rights and women's suffrage activist), with the help of her daughter Barbara Lindsay. Perhaps realizing that these tales sometimes require affection and patience to fully appreciate, they never shirk from occasionally challenging but satisfying period language, from damsel's "wimples" to "churls in armor." (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes
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