Peter and the Wolf

by Sergei Prokofiev, Chris Raschka (Illustrator), Chris Raschka (Retold by)

Overview

Sergei Prokofiev composed his Peter and the Wolf in 1936 with the hope of introducing children to the instruments of the orchestra. It happens that he also devised a wonderfully dramatic story. The characters - boy, bird, duck, cat, grandfather, wolf, hunters - and their doings have been beloved by young and old for decades.

Writer, artist, musician, and Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka has given the original story a new setting: a stage performance. Here you will relish language inspired music; enjoy mischief, suspense, and triumph in the theater; and delight in a surprise (and an additional character) Prokofiev's merry tale didn't provide. Please do not turn immediately to the last page.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689856525
Publisher:	Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Publication date:	11/04/2008
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.36(w) x 10.16(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Chris Raschka is the illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes?; Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious; John Coltrane’s Giant Steps; Can’t Sleep; In the City; and The Magic Flute. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

Chris Raschka is the illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes?; Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious; John Coltrane’s Giant Steps; Can’t Sleep; In the City; and The Magic Flute. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Since its debut in the '30s, Prokofiev's now-classic orchestral fairy tale of a boy who captures a wolf with the aid of some animal friends has been hugely popular. Here, with a nod to its musical origins (an introductory illustration showing each of the characters with his corresponding instrument), Lemieux ( A Gift from St. Francis ; Voices on the Wind ) delivers a straightforward, tightly written version of the tale. She takes some liberties--the hunters cart the wolf off to the zoo in the end, for example, instead of slitting him open to free the duck he's consumed--and purists may lament the separation of the story from its musical score, but children will still thrill to the bravery of Peter, who ignores his grandfather's warnings and catches a wolf by the tail. Dark, highly stylized oil paintings resound with suitably Russian elements--Grandfather looks like Tolstoy, the hunters are dressed as Cossacks--and create a fittingly atmospheric backdrop to this beloved story. All ages. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As in his interpretation of John Coltrane in Giant Steps, Raschka now turns Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf into poetry and pictures. The illustrations present the story as a theatrical performance (action unfolds alternately in freestanding illustrations and on an elaborate stage), but without an orchestra. As Peter cavorts, calmly but boldly opening himself to the climactic encounter with the wolf, Raschka conveys the mounting suspense in lilting words, swerving zigzags and curves. Carefree Peter is supported by an animal chorus in sound poetry, including a blue bird who speaks in stutters and rhyme, and of course the predator, who swallows the duck with a panting, "Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme... GULP!" Raschka's pictures-of characters venturing close to the wolf's bear-trap jaws, of the cat's enormous face looming over a tiny Peter-gain extra energy from geometrically shaped color blocks on the same spreads; each character is assigned a certain spectrum-e.g., red for the wolf-like the solo instruments in Prokofiev. His book best rewards patient readers capable of linking the continuous dialogue and amped-up visuals in the action spreads with scenes viewed within a complex, 3D cut-paper theater. One reading will not be enough to appreciate the artist's keen attention to detail. Ages 3-7. (Oct.)

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Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2-Wiencirz attempts to flesh out the basic story by adding dialogue and description. Unfortunately, rather than adding to the overall impact of the story, this effort only seems to make it more wordy. The clipped sentences sound slightly stilted: "One morning Peter woke up early. He went out into the garden and looked around. Where was his friend the little bird? Peter gave a soft whistle." Compare that passage to Patricia Crampton's Peter and the Wolf (Picture Book Studio, 1987; o.p.): "Only Peter's friend the bird, perched at the top of a big tree, sang the song of the peaceful meadow and the quiet, blue pond." Gukova's illustrations, reminiscent of Eastern European folk art, are more successful than the text. The animals, in particular, are nicely portrayed and seem to have distinct personalities as they interact. The design is basic-a single block of text placed on a double-page painting. Librarians needing a version of this story would be better served by Selina Hastings's Peter and the Wolf (Holt, 1995) or Patricia Crampton's book.-Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Gr 4-8A new interpretation of the often-illustrated tale. Charles Mikolaycak's Peter and the Wolf (Viking, 1986) has realistic colored-pencil drawings of handsome Russian peasants. Jorg Muller's oversized version (Knopf, 1986; o.p.) opens and closes with a theater stage where musicians perform Prokofiev's classic orchestral piece. Ian Beck's toylike figures (Atheneum, 1995) make the tale accessible to younger children. In contrast, Prado's interpretation tells the story in blocks or panels that are dark in hue and heavy with psychological meaning. The hand-written text appears in the corners of the small, framed pictures. Dark night and green forest make it difficult to discern the action as Peter follows the bird, duck, and cat into the frightening forest. Danger is almost palpable as the cat's sharp teeth narrowly miss the bird, and the giant gray wolf emerges from the gloom and swallows the duck. With the bird's help, Peter catches the wolf by his tail and the hunters shoot him. Briefly, the boy feels regret at having destroyed a magnificent beast, but quickly forgets when the villagers admire his bravery. "Vanity is as insatiable as the hunger of wild animals," reads the text. "So it goes." This version is not at all suitable for storyhours because of its dark setting and minute text. The aura of menace and fear that pervades it suggests that it should be used with older children who can understand Peter's pride and rebelliousness and can appreciate the artist's wry, comedic renderings.Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

School Library Journal

Language chosen for its sound at least as much as for its meaning lends an improvisatory air to this rendition of Prokofiev's musical tale, and theatrical illustrations definitely kick things up an additional notch. Having introduced themselves, the bird and the duck fall into an argument—"And the bird answers back: D-ducky d-dacky d-docky d-deeky. / And the duck answers back: Waieo, waieo, waieo, waieo"—before the cat and the wolf enter, Peter lassos the wolf and the hunters ("We are the men, / We are the men, / We are the men who hunt…") arrive to carry the captive off in triumph. For the art, Raschka alternates stylized pictures of the characters drawn in thick crayon and daubs of color with photos of elaborately decorated, ingeniously designed stage sets constructed from layers of cut and painted paper. He does make changes to the original's cast and plot in order to make the happy ending more explicit, but he's far from the first to do that. Among the plethora of Peters, his stands out for its seamless, jazzy match of verbal and visual exuberance. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews