| Title | : | Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0060286245 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780060286248 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 64 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2000 |
Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies Reviews
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This is an absolutely GORGEOUS book featuring some of the hottest names in the art/graphic novel business. While many of the stories are familiar, you've never heard 'em told exactly this way before.
I'm tempted to say keep this one for yourself and on a high shelf away from the kiddies, but I suppose it would be okay if they have a look...provided they wash their sticky little fingers first!
(You're right - I do have the personality of an evil-stepmother! Now, where'd I put that poisoned apple?) -
Did you ever think that fairy tale stories can be converted into comic strips? Well, it seems like they can since there is a brilliant collection of fairy tales stories being told through comic strips called “Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies!” “Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies” is a collection of various fairy tales that are shown in comic book strips and it is edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly. For anyone who loves reading fairy tales and comic books, this graphic novel is a fantastic read for children of all ages!
Basically, there are a total of eleven fairy tale stories and five puzzle pages and the fairy tale stories in this collection includes:
Prince Rooster by Art Spiegelman
In this tale, a young prince believes that he is a rooster and his father, the king, tried to find a physician that would cure him of his delusions. When it seems that no one can cure the prince, an old man comes by the palace claiming that he can cure the prince. Can the old man cure the prince?
The Sleeping Beauty by Daniel Clowes
This tale is told after the events of “Sleeping Beauty” and in this tale, the young prince kept his marriage to Sleeping Beauty a secret from his parents since his mother is of a race of ogres and could not be trusted. One day however, the young prince soon became king and told the kingdom about his marriage to Sleeping Beauty and his two children and his ogre of a mother was upset. So when the prince goes to war, the prince’s mother decided to eat Sleeping Beauty and her children. Will the ogre Queen eat Sleeping Beauty and her children?
The Princess and the Pea by Barbara McClintock
The classic tale is retold in Barbara McClintock’s wonderful illustrations as all the characters are animals and it once again relates the story about how a princess who looked like a peasant when she first came to a king’s palace for shelter has to prove to the King and Queen that she is truly a princess when the Queen tests the princess by making her sleep on twenty seven mattresses with a small pea hidden underneath all of those mattresses.
Wow! When I read this graphic novel a couple of years ago, I was so amazed at how well the fairy tales in this novel were able to transcend to comic book format! So many of the tales in this graphic novel were like modern retakes on classic fairy tales and it was awesome reading these stories that are so full of creativity and spark! All of the artwork in this collection were extremely well done and were extremely creative to look at as there were different kinds of illustrations being put forth into each story and therefore, gave this collection such variety that I found myself being interested in what this collection has to offer in the stories. My favorite stories from this collection were “The Sleeping Beauty,” “The Hungry Horse” and “The Princess and the Pea.” In “The Sleeping Beauty,” I loved Daniel Clowes’ artwork since they were detailed and most of the characters have small eyes that really made me laugh every time I saw them! I also loved the appearance of the old Queen herself as she has blond and curly hair, has large red lips and has small droopy eyes that made her look shifty and it was interesting that even though she is considered an ogre, she never looked that ugly and looked like a normal person. The story itself was pretty entertaining for me since I wanted to know what happened to Sleeping Beauty after she got married to the prince and it would have been scary about the idea of the old Queen trying to eat Sleeping Beauty and her children if only the artwork did not look so exaggerated and the tone of the story seemed a bit light tone. “The Hungry Horse” was a brilliantly haunting story by Kaz and was an awesome read! Kaz’s illustrations were wonderfully surreal as all the characters had large noses and were drawn out of proportion and while the story itself was a bit serious, the illustrations made the story hilarious to look at. “The Princess and the Pea” was wonderfully done by Barbara McClintock and I loved how all the characters in the story were portrayed as animals, especially with the King, the Queen, the young son Lionel and the princess Leotine, being portrayed as lions which greatly brought out their royalty (at least that is how I view lions). Barbara McClintock’s illustrations were just so beautiful and I loved the tiny details she put into each character, especially with the characters wearing royal clothing that truly matched their royalty.
Parents should know that some of the tales in this collection such as “The Hungry Horse” by Kaz have endings that are rather abrupt and sometimes sad and that might upset younger children who do not like sad endings or want to know what happens at the end of the story. Parents should probably read this collection first to see if their child can handle the endings in some of these stories.
Overall, “Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies” is a brilliant graphic novel that fans of both fairy tales and comics will easily love for many years to come! I would recommend this collection to children ages five and up since there might be some stories whose sad and abrupt endings might upset smaller children.
Review is also on:
Rabbit Ears Book Blog -
August project: revisiting childhood stories as I am spending a few weeks in my childhood home. This book is the first one I felt compelled to pull of the shelves and it is frankly.....quite f’d up man. These stories are DARK. Some beautiful art and witty plot twists but also cannibalism, murder, and destruction.
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Genre: Children’s, Fairytale, Graphic
Summary:
In this collection of slightly altered fairytales, each story is rendered as a comic strip with each cartoon reflecting the respective author and illustrator. The tails are reminiscent of the original, however, their perspective changes the outcome and provides a new story altogether.
Humpty Dumpty, The Princess and the Pea, and other classic tales accompany search and find and what’s wrong with this picture games. While on the surface this might appear to be a book geared entirely for children, there are more adult aspects that warrant consideration before introducing it to a young audience.
Positives/Negatives:
The variety in the types of stories and the accompanying illustrations provides a continual source of entertainment and a contrast from one tale to the next. Some of the cartoons are drawn in a simplistic; two-dimension style while others are more realistic and multi-dimensional. The dialogue is also distinct within each cartoon and the language varies depending on the subject matter and the author.
While the collection offers multiple tales, some storylines include language that seems less appropriate for a younger audience. The vocabulary is beyond that of an elementary school student who would be drawn to this subject matter. The first cartoon portraying a father and son unclothed and pretending to be roosters is tastefully done, however, I would not recommend it to children without an adult to provide perspective and context.
Examples:
In one cartoon about Rapunzel, the point of the story is to provide the reader an opportunity to discover the oddities and abnormalities in the picture. There is a whimsical picture of Rapunzel flying by her hair as it is caught in an airplane. The title of the story “Rapunzel’s Daring Escape!” is both appropriate and humorous.
The classic story of The Gingerbread Man is shown in its original form providing a nice contrast to the other more modern illustrations and dialogues. The literary tradition that the later tales were based on is established through the inclusion of this particular story. Even the cream colored background lends an antique appearance and visually cues the reader to its creation in the past.
Curriculum Connection:
The broad range of cartoons within this book provide the opportunity to contrast the varying styles, dialogues, subject matter, and illustrations. In looking at each literary component the students can assess which they like best, why they believe the author chose that particular style, and how they might create a cartoon themselves.
Given the diversity of examples, students can pick a style of cartoon and write one themselves, patterning their content and drawings after the inspirational story they choose. All of the children’s cartoons can then be assembled into a collection similar to the book and the class can comment on the differences between their own creations. -
Oddball collection of fairy tale adaptations (and a few originals, it seems) from a collection of mostly alternative/art comics types such as Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, David Mazzucchelli, etc. Unsurprisingly, the art is consistently stunning, and the adaptations are generally more "straight" (oddities of artistic style aside) than one might expect. It is a bit much to claim, as the book does, that the second half of "Sleeping Beauty" as adapted by Clowes is "almost unknown"; sure, it is often omitted from modern printings/versions of the story, but it's hardly a lost text. It is also interesting to see the inclusion of an old Walt Kelly comic, adapting the story of the gingerbread man, and to compare (or perhaps contrast) it to the generally more consciously (and self-consciously) arty work of the contemporary cartoonists. Spiegelman, perhaps, is the only one truly to capture something of the transparent, spontaneous feel of comics for kids from the pre-ironic age (or the age prior to postmodernism, anyway--ironic itself, given that Spiegelman's work is usually post-modern and self-conscious to a fault), but there is lots of other nice work here, even if not all of it really works. William Joyce does lovely and funny/punny things with his revisionist take on Hiumpty Dumpty, for instance, but David Macauley's Jack and the Beanstalk is merely nice without really popping; it feels more like a piece designed to be liked by kids than one that really will speak to them. Mazzucchelli's take on a Japanese fairy tale is a work of elegant beauty but but not really seem to consider that the putative audience for this book is actually kids. Much as I love Charles Burns, his "find the snakes and eggs" puzzle page is perhaps a tad dark and disconcerting for the young audience I imagine a book like this would really target. Ditto Chris Ware's satirical "Fairy Tale Road Rage" board game, especially its instructions, written with a typically dry, wintry Ware wit that is hilarious but would, I think, baffle most pre-tens. His own multi-perspective mash-up of fairy tales in the books end-papers is a delight but again, far too ironic for the target audience, I think. Really more a book for adults than kids, though I do think many of the pieces here would work fine for kids, and many are excellent regardless.
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Beautiful comics, amazing art, whether you're a kid or grown-up, you can lose yourself completely in these huge, ornate images by brilliant artists. One thing to review before giving it to a little kid might be to decide whether a couple of the more intense and grotesque stories would jive well with your little brain-voyager's personality. Not that kids can't or shouldn't handle weirdness, but it's worth feeling out beforehand.
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The cover alone suggest deconstruction, and I LOVE me some deconstruction.
Little Lit is an anthology of comics curated by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly: powerhouses in the industry. Here they've assembled some of the best-known creators of children and adult comics and tasked them with crafting fairy tales that are straightforward, subversive or otherwise.
I loved this collection as a kid because to my young mind it had an edge to it. Not all, mind you: some of the stories were just well-drawn and well-told. But I responded particularly well to those stories that seemed to have a darker bent. One, The Baker's Daughter, has the title character receiving divine retribution for her wicked ways, and to see this punishment delivered unto a child was . . . well, it was different from the other books I was reading at the time.
I've returned to this collection many, MANY times as I've gotten older, and with each reread I recognize and appreciate more and more of the names. Kaz, Charles Burns, Walt Kelly, Daniel Clowes, Joost Swarte. And understanding their stories within the larger context of their work makes them all the more enjoyable.
The standout for me on this read was the end pages, created by Chris Ware. I have YET to read any Chris Ware at length, but I really, REALLY want to, because every little tidbit I've read from him is really, really good, and his contribution here is no exception. He's concocted a fairy tale board game, and accompanying the game's very droll instructions are illustrations of two man-children arguing over the game's collector's value. TOTALLY missed that as a kid, but I absolutely dig it now.
Little Lit is that fantastic beast that can be enjoyed by young and old. It's geared towards kids, but there's a snarky, subversive twist to many of the pieces herein that adults will most certainly appreciate.
I could gush about Little Lit all day. Just go check it out already! -
Fairy tales have intrigued me due to the fact that they're aimed at children yet carry very adult themes. If you've read Grimm's you know that they almost always end in the maiming or death of someone. You can't argue with the lessons of the tales, but we could debate their method. The "Little Lit" collection of fairy tales is a graphic novelized versions of classic fairy tales, but with alternate endings or comedic changes to their plot. I didn't feel like the overall message was different, but I thought that the comedy didn't make the tale have such a gothic flavor to it. As an adult, the comedy even seemed aimed more for me than the kids. "Little Lit" is an anthology of authors including Art Spiegelman. Each of their unique storytelling and drawings kept the tales fresh and unique. It's a quick enjoyable read.
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Ich kann mich auch kurz fassen, wirklich.
Mir haben die Berarbeitungen der Märchen durch unterschiedliche Comic-Künstler wirklich gut gefallen. Unterschiedliche Stile machen das Buch unglaublich vielseitig und dynamisch, zwischendurch wurden kleine Spiele eingefügt. Die Spielchips möchte ich genau dort lassen, wo sie sind und lediglich angucken. Optisch einfach wirklich schön gemacht. Ich werde mich hüten, dieses schöne Buch mit einem Kind allein zu lassen. Besonders schön (erzählerisch wie optisch): "The Baker's Daughter" und "Humpty Trouble". -
This book took known fairly tales and some more obscure, and Illustrated them in a beautiful comic while keeping the moral lesson the stories teach the reader.
My favorite part was the very last page, which contains a story board that shows all the aspects of a fairly tale from the point of view of all the characters. -
Beautiful compilation of illlustrated fairy tales that are offbeat and not always straight from folklore. My favorites are the ones by William Joyce, the vintage Walt Kelly, and Bruce McCall, but they're all interesting--which is unusual for a compilation.
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Another fun volume of twisted fairy tales.
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Had to stop at the 50% mark. Started off really great–fresh writing and original concept. But the halt starts at about the 30% mark and never quite picks up again.
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I loved how all the work have a retro flair or vintage feel to them ... in fact, "The Gingerbread Man" by Walt Kelly was drawn in 1943, but all of the art feels like it could have been created over 50 years ago. I almost couldn't believe the copyright date says 2000.
The one that stood out to me the most was the "Fairy Tale Road Rage" and "Once Upon a Time" by Chris Ware -they're actually the last endpages, but it's amazingly witty. First, "Road Rage" is the instructions for the board game on the front endpages. I have to leave a small excerpt of the snarky directions:
"The smartest of all children will then deduce that, due to the similarity of these colors, some sort of relationship exists between the playing pieces, the spaces on the board, and the spaces on the storyboards. This child should be immediately excused from play and be signed up for top-level government service, as he or she is obviously more gifted than the adults who currently hold such positions."
The instructions also have a small six panel comic of two adult collectors preparing to play the game.
"Once Upon a Time" is one of the most clever comics I've ever read. It's a circular, interconnecting comic of sorts. On each side of the page, there is a 8 panel comic with focus on a certain character (a frog, a wolf, a princess, and an old lady). You then flip the page a quarter turn (90 degrees) to read the next story. It's bitersweet, but definitely in the spirit of fairy tales. Though you can start anywhere, first I read the one I could clearly read with the pages open and facing me like a normal book. The art is simply illustrated but there's an adorable aspect to the work.
"The Fisherman and the Sea Princess" had some of my favorite art from that collection and that story ... wow. Kind of angsty and a bit reminiscent of Cupid and Psyche (and Pandora's Box threw in).
Anyway, an interesting collection of stories. Definitely check it out if you have the chance. =) -
Fairy tales have intrigued me due to the fact that they're aimed at children yet carry very adult themes. If you've read Grimm's you know that they almost always end in the maiming or death of someone. You can't argue with the lessons of the tales, but we could debate their method. The "Little Lit" collection of fairy tales is a graphic novelized versions of classic fairy tales, but with alternate endings or comedic changes to their plot. I didn't feel like the overall message was different, but I thought that the comedy didn't make the tale have such a gothic flavor to it. As an adult, the comedy even seemed aimed more for me than the kids. "Little Lit" is an anthology of authors including Art Spiegelman. Each of their unique storytelling and drawings kept the tales fresh and unique. It's a quick enjoyable read.
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This is an amazing collection of folklore.The authors did a wonderful job with the stories and illustrations. This is intended for school age and up. This book contains many short fairy tales. The stories are told in comic strip form. The tails are similar to the original ones but the outcomes are slightly different, which provides a new out look. Children and adult can enjoy the funny and sweet tales such as The Princess and the Pea, Humpty Dumpty, and Rapunzel. It is very interesting the way some of the cartoons are drawn simply and other have much more detail and dimensions. Some of the stories are quite humorous. This book could be used in a classroom setting to compare and contrast the different styles and themes of each story. All of the stories have wonderful lessons to be learned and discussed by students. The best thing about this book is each story comes with activities such as picture searches and find whats wrong with this picture games.
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Interesting and fun to read different authors and illustrators working together.
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Spiegelman, A. (2000). Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies. New York:
HarperCollins.
What a unique way to capture the young readers with a graphic novel that indulges them with a variety of folk and fairy tale favorites. With a twist to these favorite stories and captivating illustrations the kids will be enjoying the book. Honestly who doesn’t enjoy hearing these stories and in this captivating way, it’s really entertaining. -
Most of the stories had valuable lessons. Like one of them was do as you're told or else it change your whole entire life. The best parts was when there was this picture that had all these spooky pictures in black and white and it was a maze. It had creatures I don't even know about. What I liked best was the illustrations and how it was funny. The one about Rupunzel is really funny and full of mistakes.
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I had somehow never heard of these RAW-for-kids story adaptations edited by Spiegelman and Mouly until yesterday, when I found it at a used book store. These are stories for kids with plenty of smart writing and heavy-hitting comics artists to keep adults searching for more editions. Ware, Burns, Clowes, Kaz-- when I started flipping through I almost hyperventilated. And even better, it was a fun read with a good mix of classic fairy tales and more obscure folk tales.
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A fun collection. Wonderful artwork by many different artists (William Joyce, David Macaulay, Walt Kelly and more) to tell/retell some familiar fairy tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, the Princess and the Pea, and the Gingerbread Man. Plus some fun interactive elements (what's wrong with this picture, find the hidden objects.) Large format, plus nice thick creamy paper.
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This is a collection of fairy tales, but they are comics and slightly different than the tales they originate from. Most of the tales tend to be funny and cute. The one tale I really enjoyed was The Fisherman and The Sea Princess. It was really a nice story, but had a very sad ending.
Overall, it was a fun collection of fairy tales. -
These are fairy tales told in comic format. They are delightful and remind you of the books you read as a child. My favorite may have been the Fisherman and the Sea Princess. The Gingerbream Man drawings reminded me of yesteryear. :)
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Beautifully drawn by a variety of artists. The classic story of the Runaway Gingerbread Man is joined by new takes on old favorites like Jack and the Beanstalk and plenty of stories I wasn't familiar with or were new. Interspersed are a couple of games to amuse. Appropriate for all ages!
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Has a lot of funny comics! 8D
