The Little Golden Lamb($15.00Value)

Description

In this joyfully retold Hungarian version of "The Golden Goose," a shepherd lad befriends a lamb whose fleece is the color of gold. The lad and the lamb set off on a journey, with the lamb dancing and frolicking as the boy plays his flute. Along the way they meet one person after another who tries to put an end to their merriment, but soon enough each has no choice but to join the cheerful procession and help the shepherd boy win his fortune and fulfill his destiny. Whimsically illustrated in delicious colors, this lively tale about the magic of music and the infectiousness of a light heart will have young children ready to join in the celebration. Kindergarten-Grade 3-A Hungarian version of the familiar "Golden Goose." A young man works as a shepherd for a year and asks only for a golden-fleeced lamb that dances when he plays his flute in payment. An innkeeper's daughter tries to steal it, only to be stuck fast. The lad plays his flute and the lamb dances, with the girl following suit. They are then joined by an old woman and a priest, and the whole procession passes in front of the king's daughter, who has been promised to the first person who could make her laugh. Needless to say, the boy gets the girl-and three bags of gold. The text has clearly been shaped by a storyteller-"Down the road they went,/The shepherd lad playing his flute,/The little golden lamb kicking up its heels,/On the lamb's tail the girl,/On the girl's back the baker's peel,/-And the little golden lamb carried them all,/dancing down the road." Litzinger's energetic watercolor and colored-pencil drawings capture the humor and absurdity of the tale. Though Uri Shulevitz's rollicking version, The Golden Goose (Farrar, 1995), is still in print, The Little Golden Lamb is a joyous tale, with a beautiful blend of text and illustration. A read-aloud treasure. Kathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CT Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Readers and listeners may know this tale better as The Golden Goose, retold here from its Hungarian roots by storyteller Greene (Billy Beg and His Bull, 1994, etc.). This somewhat cumulative tale is a shortened, sweetened version in comparison to the Grimm Brothers telling, substituting a golden lamb in place of the traditional goose. Here, a young shepherd lad comes to own a golden lamb. As in the original tale, each person he meets along the wayan innkeepers daughter, an old woman, and a prieststick fast to the lamb and to each other, dancing to the shepherds music as they go. In typical fairy-tale style, the boy happens upon news of a king whose princess will not laugh until, of course, she sees the ridiculous procession. Alls well that ends well as shepherd marries and becomes a prince, earning three bags full of gold. The language is accessible for preschoolers, rather unadorned, fine for reading aloud, while the humor and any sense of hilarity is better conveyed through pictures. Cheery, round-faced characters prance against gumdrop-colored hills in delightful Nonny Hogrogian style. The real merriment lies in the illustrations underlying sense of celebration. (Picture book/folklore. 4-7)-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. "A read-aloud treasure." -- Review "It has all the elements of a favorite folktale . . ." -- -- Publishers Weekly Ellin Greene is a well-known library educator and storyteller and author of several folktale retellings for children. She lives in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Rosanne Litzinger has illustrated many popular books for children. She lives in Beverly Hills, California.