not at CLAN

Beauty and the Beast meets East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon in this immensely engaging, gorgeously illustrated fairy-tale from the Appalachians. When a poor father of three plucks a forbidden Winter Rose, intending to give it as a gift to his beloved youngest daughter, Nell, he finds himself pursued by a terrible white bear, who demands a high price in return. Terrified, but determined to aid her father, Nell sets out with the creature, eventually finding herself at his mountaintop palace, where it is revealed that he is Snowbear Whittington, cursed by a witch to spend half of his time in bear form. As time passes, Nell eventually comes to care for her new mate, who assumes the shape of a man by night, but her careless words, when visiting her ill father, could separate them forever. When Snowbear Whittington disappears, can she find him and win him back...?

I have encountered this Appalachian variant of the Beauty and the Beast tale type before, in Betsy Hearne's Beauties and Beasts, a collection of twenty-seven tales from around the world, as well as Richard Chase's Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales (it appears as "Whitebear Whittington" in both of those collections), but William H. Hooks' title is the first picture-book retelling I have encountered. How glad I am that it was one of our August selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, as it has been on my "to-read" shelf for a while now, and I finally found the impetus to pick it up. The tale itself is well-told and involving, and Victoria Lisi's illustrations are simply beautiful. I think I need to own a copy of this gem! ( )

This wonderful Appalachian adaptation of Beauty and the Beast actually also contains numerous elements of the Norwegian folktale East of the Sun and West of the Moon and also reminds me somewhat of the Russian folktale The Feather of Finist the Falcon (which, in turn, reminded me very strongly of >East of the Sun and West of the Moon the first time I read it in a collection of Russian tales that had been translated into German).

It is basically typical "questing beauty" type of tale, where Nell, the bride of the animal bridegroom (a huge white bear) must quest for his deliverance, and it is Nell's love and her loyalty which finally win through and deliver Snowbear Whittington from his enchantment. I have a feeling that this review must sound rather trite, but in all honesty, I find this picture book so wonderful, so gorgeously illustrated that I am having a hard time finding the correct words to do it justice. Highly recommended for anyone interested in folk and fairy tales. ( )