Book: Igraine the Brave Author: Cornelia Funke
Audience: Grades 3 to 5
In a Nutshell: singing books, piggie parents, and girl on a quest
Igraine is the daughter of the great magicians Sir Lamorak and the fair Melisande, and sister to young magician Albert. They live together in Pimpernael Castle, protected by a magical moat, gargoyles, and roaring stone lions. Igraine is not very interested in magic herself; she would much prefer to be a knight. When her parents accidentally turn themselves into pigs, and then a nasty new neighbor beseiges the castle and demands their famous singing spell books, she finds her chance to save the day. With the fine stallion Lancelot ("borrowed" from a neighbor) she rides in search of giant's hairs to reverse the piggie spell. Along the way she meets the self-exiled Sorrowful Knight, who reluctantly joins her in her quest to save her home.
Cute fairy tale story for younger readers. I've never been completely in love with Funke's books, mostly because they're in translation from German, and though the translators do a good job the books still feel once-removed to me. From a half-full perspective, this story uses a moatful of well-loved fairy tale elements all together in one plucky tale. For the half-empty half, I found it a bit pedestrian- like she cobbled together all the most cliched fairy tale elements into one story, though in a mostly likable way, if you're not looking for a lot of originality. Would work well for younger readers or listeners even younger than that- good readaloud for second graders, I bet.
Good reading by Xanthe Elbrick on the audio version.
No comments:
Post a Comment