Ashley Crownover

The Velveteen Rabbit is a story about a young boy that receives a stuffed rabbit as a Christmas gift. At first, the young boy had forgotten about the rabbit until one day his mother gave him the rabbit at bedtime. From that day forward, the young boy took the rabbit everywhere with him. It was understood between the toys that once the child loves you so much then that is when you become real. Soon, the boy became sick and the doctor instructed his mother to throw out all of the toys in the boys room because they were full of harmful germs. The rabbit became sad and began to cry. The toy magic fairy appeared and made the rabbit a real bunny. As months passed by and it began to warm up again, the young boy went outside to play. The rabbit was peeping at him from under a bush. The rabbit seemed familiar to the boy. The young boy never knew that the rabbit he had seen was the toy rabbit that use to belong to him.… (altro)

The Velveteen Rabbit is a classic story for children, and we have a picture book version in our collection that I rated with three stars. The book is a bit wordy, revealing its age, I think, but the story is sweet and has a good message. However, this edition is an abridged version of the tale for a board book format, and my lower rating reflects the mismatch I find between the story and the format. Board books are for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, children just beginning to appreciate books. The text should be simple and easy to understand, and using rhythm is a big advantage. Just taking a well-loved children's story and abridging it so it will be small enough for a board book is not acceptable. Some picture books do translate well to the board book form, because their text is simple enough. This story does not fall in that category. While the pictures are cute in this book, the book itself is small, so they're hard to appreciate, and the text still crowds the book, even though there's less of it. If you want to introduce your young child to this classic tale, then read or show them a picture book version of the entire story. It will hold their attention just as much as this board book will, with bigger illustrations to draw their eye.… (altro)

This is a first-person account from the point of view of Wealtheow, wife of Hrothgar. It begins when she comes to the meadhall called Heorot. She was a teen-aged bride to the much older King of the Danes. She knew the rituals and things that were needful for a queen. She became comfortable in this new, married life. Among other things, she helped the women in the weaving shed, and started a tapestry of her own, she gathered herbs in the forest, and she visited the mere not far away and made offerings to Freya. She and her husband had children.

But then the troubles began. A monster invaded Heorot, killing their warriors, sending terror to their people.

In like manner, the storyteller follows Grendel and his mother as outcasts from his very birth onwards, until they settle in that mere, and the monstrous son ravages Heorot. Beowulf does show up eventually, but he appears in the context of her life, not his - he is not the protagonist of this story. The familiar events happen, but again focused on Wealtheow's experience, as a woman of the time, not the hero's story.

The author has done a good job weaving her tale, and using the tapestry and loom images through the story. The cadence of the language is reminiscent of the Burton Raffel translation, echoing the elegant prose. It is a fast read of a simple but powerful story. I enjoyed it.… (altro)