| The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books |
| The Bulletin Dozen is a monthly theme-based list of titles available only on-line. Since we're awfully fond of bakers here at the Bulletin, we thought we'd adopt their philosophy of generosity and throw in an extra one or two when we have th
em to offer--so don't expect an even dozen. Please feel free to copy, download, or link to these lists. We ask only that you cite the source. See the archive for lists from previous months. | |
Romancing the Reader: Picture Book Love Stories |
The following is a list of picture book love stories: traditional tales about love fulfilled, love denied, love betrayed, and love triumphant. They are profusely and romantically illustrated, with a penchant for dramatic lighting, decorative ornamentation , and sweeping vistas. The inherent drama of these tales includes appointments with destiny, encounters with the supernatural, and, sometimes, collisions with tragedy. Pull these out of the 398.2s, try them with some reluctant readers or in a display, an d see how fast they fly away.
--Janice Del Negro, Editor
- Cooper, Susan, ad. The Selkie Girl. Il. by Warwick Hutton. Atheneum, 1986.
Cooper's retelling of this Scottish folktale resonates with the tragedy of love lost and found, as a fisherman loses his selkie wife to her first love, the sea. (BCCB 11/86)
- Craft, M. Charlotte.Cupid and Psyche. Il. by K.Y. Craft. Morrow, 1996.
This retelling of the Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche has a stately if somewhat fulsome text and outrageously ornate, cinematically lit illustrations a la Maxfield Parrish.
(BCCB 9/96) - Garfield, Leon. The Wedding Ghost. Il. by Charles Keeping. Oxford University Press, 1987.
A young man soon to be married is seduced by supernatural perfection as an offbeat variation of Sleeping Beauty is superimposed over commonplace, everyday life in this eerily illustrated, haunting tale. (BCCB 4/87)
- Goble, Paul. Love Flute. Bradbury Press,
1992.
A youth who loves a maiden is too shy to tell her, so he learns to speak melodically through his flute in order to win her in this story of the origins and tradition of the Plains Indian's courting flute. (BCCB 12/92)
- Hooks, William H. The Ballad of Belle Dorcas.
Il by Brian Pinkney. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
Freeborn Belle seeks the help of a conjure woman in order to keep her true love, a slave named Joshua, from being sold away from her. (BCCB 12/90)
- Kimmel, Eric, ad. The Witch's Face Il. by Eric Kimmel. Holiday House, 1993.
The lover in this darkly tragic Mexican tale cannot resist betraying his love in order to make her beautiful.
- Lewis, Naomi, ad. East O' The Sun and West O'
the Moon. Il. by P.J. Lynch. Candlewick Press, 1992.
The heroine of this lushly illustrated tale goes bravely questing to win her heart's true love. (BCCB 12/92)
- Noyes, Alfred. The Highwayman. Il. by
Charles Mikolaycak. Lothrop, 1983.
Forget about learning this poem in elementary school and look at it again- it has a riveting narrative that is dramatically enhanced by Mikolaycak's pen and ink drawings, the black and white lines set off by the occasional splash of red. (BCCB 12/90)
- Pyle, Howard. Bearskin Il. by Trina
Schart Hyman. Morrow, 1997.
Pyle's classic text is given new life by Hyman's brilliantly colored, elegantly nuanced illustrations, as the smiling (and charming) hero Bearskin defeats a foolish lord and wins the hand of a willing princess. (BCCB 11/97)
- San Souci, Robert, ad. Nicholas Pipe.
Il. by David Shannon. Dial, 1997.
Nicholas is a merman who can live on land; he loves Land-dweller Margaret, whose father forbids the match. When Nicholas is seized by the king's men for a royal menagerie, it is Margaret who follows and saves him. (BCCB 7/97)
- Willard, Nancy. Beauty and the Beast. Il.
by Barry Moser. Harcourt Brace, 1992.
This atmospheric, lengthy (80 pages) retelling is set in early twentieth century New York, as a young Beauty redeems a sad, enchanted Beast. Moser's black and white woodcuts have a stateliness that sits well with the book's elegant layout and design. ( BCCB 11/92)
- Yep, Laurence. The Shell Woman and the King.
Il. by Yang Ming-Yi. Dial, 1993.
Uncle Wu brags about his magical seawife Shell, and as a result she must deliver herself from the clutches of a greedy king. (BCCB 10/93)
- Yolen, Jane. Tam Lin. Il. by Charles
Mikolaycak. Harcourt Brace, 1990.
Yolen's prose retelling of this traditional Scottish ballad has Burd Janet braving the wrath of a jealous Fairy Queen in order to save her love, Tam Lin.
This page was last updated on December 1, 1997.