From Publishers Weekly
Young readers will be entranced by this Venetian fairy tale, with its many classic ingredients: a couple who cannot have a child, a wizard who casts spells and the moral dilemma of an overheard conversation. In Ehrlich's stylish retelling, the wizard gives the childless couple an apple and guarantees that the wife will have a child nine months after she eats it. The woman consumes the fruit and her maid eats the peel; they both become pregnant. Their sons, Pome and Peel, are born within hours of each other and raised as brothers. Years later the boys seek out the wizard's daughter, famed for her beauty; she disobeys her father and agrees to marry Pome. The angry wizard puts three curses on his daughter; in trying to protect the girl, Peel finds himself the victim of the most terrible curse of all. Gal's elegant medieval paintings, replete with sprawling cityscapes and lavishly costumed characters, contain many imaginative details that capture the story's magic and romance. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4 --Tiny print on the verso of the title page cites the source of this dark Venetian tale of loss and restoration. A childless wife eats a magic apple, and her maid eats the peel; both become pregnant. The resulting sons grow up as brothers and, as young men, travel to find an unlaughing wizard's daughter. Released by the brothers, she departs with them to marry Pome. Feeling betrayed, her father curses his daughter, but after three witches intervene, Peel deflects the curse through behavior that strikes others as murderous. Condemned to death, he reveals the truth of his deeds, causing himself to turn to stone; the remorseful wizard restores the boy's life at his daughter's petition. It's a complex tale happening over a long time span and in different places, weighty with events and traditional folkloric elements. While the orderly telling manages it all comfortably, the result is more academic than lively. Gal's tempera paintings glow with near-Italianate light, and the color is much cleaner than in some of his earlier Canadian work. The highly controlled composition incorporates detail into the page design to convey place and time. But control is the organizing force here, and for all the operatic events and the visual theatricality, the mood of both words and pictures remains glacial and studied. Potentially of interest to folklore students, but its child appeal is questionable. --Karen Litton, London Public Libraries, Ontario, Canada
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
