Scan barcode
A review by calistareads
Seven Simeons: A Russian Tale by Boris Artzybasheff
3.0
I have been trying to read this book since I set the goal to read Caldecott books. I couldn’t get this at my library, through ILL or at the Library of Congress, so I ended up buying this book used for some reason. I don’t know why, but this is one I wanted to read. This is a book from the first year the Caldecott award started.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.
I thought the artwork had this very delicate minimalist quality to it. It almost looks like it was gold foil embossed or something shiny. It uses detailed drawings. Each page spread is a drawing on one page and full page of text on the other.
To me, it reads much like a fairy tale. It is set in Russia, I believe. A King has everything but a wife and so he is unhappy. He wants not just an ordinary wife, she has to be as beautiful as he is. So, he is vain and all about the outside. He meets 7 brothers all with the same name. They grow gorgeous wheat, but each of them has their own talent. So the King gets them all to go across the sea and bring him back this bride he has heard talk of her beauty. So the story is all about how the brothers get the girl.
It all works out easy peasy in the end and the brothers get to go back to farming. It is such a strange tale that of course I like it. It’s not a great bedtime story. It took us 2 nights to read it. It’s a long one.
The kids thought it was ok. The nephew gave it 3 stars while the other gave it only 1 star. The niece didn’t understand why the girl didn’t get a say in who she married. That bothered her. It is weird to think about it in these terms. The girl was essentially kidnapped. She eventually is ok with it, but that didn’t sit well.