An original fairy tale that reads like a classic. The pictures are very pretty. I like how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and (just about) everything is lovely & happy at the end. I wish I'd seen the threads of golden hair in the animals' fur. I wish that when the sorceress killed the father it wasn't so euphemistically related because I really thought she had seduced and bewitched & addled him. I did love the bit where the little girl grew up in just a few days, and then when the spell was broken grew young again. The book is a little long, and the plot a bit complex, for the youngest children, but ages 7 and up will probably love it. ( )

A beautiful fairy-tale that invokes memories of a number of other stories, but is unique in itself - definitely one to read again and again. The story tells of two lost little girls - a mother and her daughter, a greedy sorceress (not so much evil, making for a refreshing change, since her evilness has direction and reason), an innocent woodsman, a missing king and his kingdom, and 'Happily Ever After'.

The story seemed a bit advanced for the baby, but was loved for it's simplicity and classical tone. I will be looking to add this library find to our permanent shelf sometime soon. ( )

This is one of those rare perfect books that transports you completely into its pages and guides you along a twisting, enchanted path overgrown with wonders and delights until you emerge at the end, calmly satisfied from your travels. Jane Yolen's story-telling is as lovely as ever and has little rhyming spells sprinkled throughout that make the tale seem as though you are there at its unfolding. The illustrations are truly marvelous and curl up around the text which is printed on a softly glowing golden wash. Flowering vines climb up around the borders of many of the pages. The tale has a little orphaned girl set against a wicked witch who comes looking for an enchanted treasure. Before her mother dies she gives the little girl a beautiful golden comb as a keepsake. The witch puts a spell on the child to try to force her into revealing the location of the enchanted treasure that she knows has to be somewhere nearby. The animals of the forest befriend the little girl and in the end a wonderful justice occurs. The story is so precious and has a thoughtful message to suggest. This has a lot of the ingredients that you've seen in countless other fairy tales but here they seem so freshly tender and heart-touching. ( )