Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Superheroes are not an invention of American comic books, as is amply proven by this not-so-well-known tale from Grimm. Only with superhuman help can a prince accomplish the surprisingly difficult task of leaving home and marrying. After a seven-year illness caused by his father's disapproval, the prince sets off to woo a beautiful princess who is guarded by her wicked sorceress mother. Along the way, he meets a man who can hear everything, even the grass growing; a fellow who can stretch himself to the height of a mountain; and four other remarkable parties. When the princess's evil mother sets him impossible tasks, he fulfills them, helped by the six. But only he can truly win the princess's heart, in a misogynist final episode in which he breaks her pride. This is strong stuff, and in translating the lengthy text, Bell takes no interpretive liberties. Goloshapov shrewdly creates a gallery of grotesques instead of following the action. He concentrates on the enormous mouth of the fat man as he swallows 300 oxen and 300 barrels of wine, or on the tall man's legs stretching across two pages; the exaggerated figures are well served by the unusually tall and narrow format. Executed in watercolor, gouache and ink on black paper, these sophisticated illustrations emphasize the darkness of the themes and capitalize on the story's strangeness. Ages 5-8. (Apr.)
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5Striking watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations capture the darker side of this simple, straightforward fairy tale. A young prince collects six servants on his way to try to win the hand of a princess whose mother, an enchantress, sets impossible tasks for the ill-fated suitors. Not only do the servants help the prince complete the queen's tasks, but also one set by the princess. They even repel an attack by the queen's army. Bell's translation is spare and restrained, conveying the somber mood of the story without succumbing to bleakness. The text is perfectly paired with Goloshapov's dark, eerie, distorted paintings. Apart from the prince and princess, the figures have elongated and exaggerated features that, while disturbing, are thought-provoking and intriguing, as are the many fine details scattered throughout the book. A few minor points: Bell's version does not specify what happens to the queen after she is defeated; Goloshapov depicts tiny gibbets with bodies hanging from them in the background of one illustration, while the text clearly states that the queen beheads her victims; and the ring the prince must find is caught on what looks more like a branch of coral than the pointed rock described in the text. This edition is not for everyone, and is too scary for young children. Older readers at a different experiential level will be better able to appreciate it.Donna L. Scanlon, Lancaster County Library, PA
Kirkus Reviews
Although popular culture's take on fairy tales tends to emphasize the bright side of life, Goloshapov's illustrations for this old story retain its darker aspects and fairly bristle with menace. His palette is as brown as mud in pictures filled with eccentric figures straight out of the hell of Hieronymus Bosch. Nothing in the text of Bell's translation foretells such darkness; it may be her matter-of-fact narrative that, by contrast, highlights the intrigue of the pictures. The six servants of the title, who help a prince win the hand of a princess by performing impossible tasks, are true grotesques, sculpted from withering landscapes accented with insects. Only on the final page does the art show some color, and even then, although the newlyweds' clothing is bright, the background is black and the wedding guests repulsive. As with a good ghost story, the horror here is the enticement.
