Alma Flor Ada

Tres princesas: Blancanieves. Cenicienta. La bella durmiente.
Tres princesas: Blancanieves. Cenicienta. La bella durmiente.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Three tra­di­tional fairy tales: Blan­canieves [Snowwhite], Ceni­cienta [Cin­derella] and La bella dur­miente [Sleep­ing Beauty] have been retold in verse form by Alma Flor Ada.

These orig­i­nal verses pro­vide a delight­ful retelling of the story.

CD DESCRIPTION

The three sto­ries con­tained in the book have been told in a two part for­mat which allows to make a pause in the lis­ten­ing of the story to elicit com­ments and pre­dic­tions from the children.

Suni Paz has cre­ated out­stand­ing dra­matic music turn­ing these retellings into real per­for­mances of the tales.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Tra­di­tional fairy tales were an impor­tant aspect of my child­hood. Later I enjoyed shar­ing them with my four chil­dren. Retelling well-loved sto­ries in verse was a mean­ing­ful chal­lenge for me, since it meant unit­ing two of my pas­sions, sto­ries and poetry.

There is always a great risk that a nar­ra­tive in verse will not be true poetry. And chil­dren are much too fre­quently fed verses that may rhyme but are not poetry. I have always felt that this pseudo-poetry can hin­der the child’s under­stand­ing of what true poetry really is, with harm­ful con­se­quences. This is why these ren­di­tions were cre­ated with great care. They have been blessed by hav­ing been put to music by Suni Paz.

BOOK REVIEWS

Críti­cas [Amer­i­can Library Association]

The Leo con Dis­ney col­lec­tion includes […] Tres prince­sas … Ada’s won­der­ful retelling of Cin­derella, Snow White and Sleep­ing Beauty, each in a rhyming, poetic for­mat. — Paul M. Kienlen, North­side ISD, Bilingual/ESL Dpt. San Anto­nio, TX [Críti­cas, July/August 2004, page 52]

READERS’ RESPONSES

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