Bremen Town Musicians

by Brothers Grimm, Bernadette Watts (Illustrator)

Overview

A Brothers Grimm story about friendship and persistence, illustrated by the legendary European artist Bernadette Watts.

When a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster are no longer wanted by their masters, they decide to run away and become musicians in Bremen Town. There they discover a warm little cabin, but find that robbers occupy it! Will the four friends plan to scare the robbers away work?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735843844
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	250,425
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in 1785 and 1786 near Frankfurt, Germany. In their early twenties, they began the linguistic studies that would culminate in their collected editions of folk- and fairy tales. They got their stories from peasants and villagers, and sometimes from already-published works from other cultures. Jacob did much of the research; Wilhelm put the stories into literary form.

Bernadette Watts, known throughout Europe simply as Bernadette, has illustrated many dozens of folk- and fairy tales. Born in England, she loved to draw from childhood. She studied at the Maidstone Art School in Kent, UK, and for some time was taught by Brian Wildsmith and David Hockney. Bernadette’s many beautiful books include The Snow Queen and The Little Drummer Boy. Bernadette finds her inspiration in nature. Today she lives and works in Kent. She has been illustrating for NorthSouth Books and NordSüd Verlag since the beginning of her career fifty years ago.

Place of Birth:

Hanau, Germany

Place of Death:

Berlin, Germany

Editorial Reviews

The inimitable Zwerger ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) and experienced translator Bell transform what in other hands has come off as a silly story into a captivating tale about the unwitting triumph of four aged animals who join together to create a band, foil a gang of robbers, and end up finding themselves a home. Zwerger's illustrations convey both poignancy and sly humor. A full-page, skillful portrait introduces each animal character, while at the top, spot art depicts their plights. The weariness of each elderly creature is plaintive, and Zwerger makes clear visually how the robbers might mistake the animals sitting atop each other for a monster. However, at the most dramatic moment of the story, when one of the robbers returns to the house to confront the sleepy animals inside, Zwerger leaves the details to readers' imaginations, using only shadowy gray figures to portray the literal action that occurs. Unlike Ilse Plume's sunny interpretation, this new version of the Grimm story focuses on how the four old creatures, despite their Quixote-like quest to become musicians, end up finding contentment anyway. Bell's translation adheres closely and gracefully to the original, and the theme of what might happen to those who outlive their usefulness ends on an enchanting, happy note. Ages 4-up. (Mar.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2
A competent translation and soft, minimalist paintings recount this oft-told tale. Many of the framed text pages carry a small portrait of a figure featured in the larger facing scene. This story is built around dialogue among a donkey, cat, dog, and rooster and rises to a bit of action in the two scaring-the-robbers scenes. The illustrations keep the speakers in the foreground with almost no details in the colored backgrounds except for very small, wispy overhead vignettes echoing story elements. These small, almost indistinct figures are vague and dreamy, and the soft forms and gentle tone of the pictures never build the humor usually associated with the plucky "musicians" and the villains. It's a pleasant introduction to the story, but the renditions by Hans Wilhelm (Scholastic, 1992), Janet Stevens (Holiday House, 1992), Ilse Plume (Yearling, 1998), and Paul Galdone (McGraw-Hill, 1968; o.p.) are stronger.
—Margaret BushCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Stevens' picture book features impressionistic illustrations in ink, pastels, and gouache done on tawny, handmade paper. Lively and expressive, the artwork dramatizes the Grimms' familiar tale in a child-pleasing style that plays up both the pathos and the broad humor of the story. Despite the many versions already available on library shelves, consider this one if there's room for one more. A promising choice for reading aloud.

Carolyn Phelan