Synopsis: Ruth Brown has cleverly woven together a collection of favourite fairy tales with the story of a dreamer being woken from a bad dream. Everything may seem familiar to the reader, and yet as the pages turn, watch the illustration, for not all is quite as it seems.

Review: The first fairy tale the reader meets is Hansel and Gretel with a beautiful depiction of the gingerbread house and the wicked witch. When the house tumbles down a row of gingerbread men fall out running (this is not mentioned int he accompanying text). On the next page the dreamer meets Little Red Riding Hood, she and the big bad wolf are the next characters in the illustration. The wolf quickly becomes entwined in a beanstalk and tumbling down from this wakes the dreamer with a bump. Mama is reassuring, these are after all only fairy tales, or are they? Turn the page to find a very clever twist in the story, and then just when you believe all has been revealed there is yet another.

This is a  reassuring story for any children woken by bad dreams, it is also a very clever introduction to some traditional fairy tales. Working on two levels and telling many stories, one in the text and the others in the illustration there is much to see in this book. It could take some time to read or lead into a long story telling session as listeners spot the fairy tale and demand to hear that too! A very clever concept and a touching and amusing story.

2007-05-07