My Words on Children's Literature

Genre 2 TRADITIONAL LITERATURE

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kimmel, Eric. 1998. SEVEN AT ONE BLOW. Ill. by Megan Lloyd. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 0823413837

2. PLOT SUMMARY

When a poor tailor swats flies off his bread and jelly and counts the dead, he is amazed at his incredible feat. He makes himself a special belt embroidering the phrase “seven at one blow” on it so all will be impressed. He decides he is too great to remain a tailor and sets off to seek adventure. He is challenged by giants and ogres, a unicorn, and a wild boar. He cleverly outwits them all including a king and his spoiled daughter, the princess.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This rendition of the Grimm Brothers’ familiar story includes a few extra challenges for the little tailor, such as, the ogres, the unicorn, and the wild boar. This makes for a bit longer story and, of course, the reader is even more impressed with him. The end does not include the typical boy gets the princess ending, but I suppose the boy does not always get the princess. Also, the idea that a king would not follow through with his promises and then run away is a little disheartening. Overall, I think children love to see the “little guy” triumph over the “big.”

Lloyd’s watercolor illustrations are wonderful and make the story quite thrilling, yet not too scary for young eyes. The giants are threatening, the ogres are creepy, the unicorn looks menacing with that long horn, and the boar is frighteningly too close for comfort. Children love to see the "scary" creatures, and think about them in and out of the story context.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

SLJ: "Kimmel has made only minor deviations from the original Grimm story, and what few changes there are serve only to enhance the tale. Lloyd's watercolor illustrations are a treat for the eye and perfectly complement the rollicking humor of the tale."

Booklist: "Kimmel's sly, ebullient version of the Grimm story is illustrated with Lloyd's wonderfully detailed line-and-watercolor pictures that move from the rough peasant village to scenes of gigantic slapstick confrontation, as the tailor conquers three giants, two hideous green ogres, a unicorn, and a savage boar, and finally ends up as king. Kimmel explains the trick each time for young listeners--the dangerous bullies respect the tailor because they think he killed people not flies--and preschoolers will love the triumph of the small guy and the funny pictures of wild commotion."

5. CONNECTIONS

*Gather a number of folktales to read over a week. Discuss themes, heroes, villains, and renditions.

*Write a class story with illustrations based on one of the folktales.

*Other folktale stories:

Littledale, Freya. THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR. ISBN 0590427970

Grimm, Jacob. BROTHERS GRIMM: THE COMPLETE FAIRY TALES. ISBN 1853268984

// posted by catalogblog @ 6:13 AM