John S. Goodall's Theatre: The Sleeping Beauty
John S. Goodall ~ Atheneum, 1980
My Internet has still been having some problems because of all this rain, so I don't know how long it will stay up to get this post actually finished. That said, I'll be out of commission until I return from Indiana on Monday... but I will say this... Yesterday, I walked into a used book shop with the boy... as he sat down perusing an old Donald Duck retrospective... I flipped through the shelves and a dainty little paperback book fluttered into view. My heart skipped a beat. All of a sudden, I was eight years old, sitting on the floor in my room looking at this book over and over again. Turning its pages and studying the tiny pictures. To say I loved this book as a child would be a huge understatement. I worshipped it.
The thinnest little paperback... only four pages with a small flip book on the inside. All the Goodall books of my youth were like this. Half pages that reveal one scene and then add one image to another. Take particular note of the last scene of the play... when the mice fairy godmothers are flying above the wedding... look close and you can actually see their wires. Darling darling darling. I am going to post it in full here because the gushing is so heartfelt and strong. I thought for a moment of giving it to the boy's BFF as she loves animals and princesses, but you know what? I think I'll be keeping this one just for me. Now, fall in love if you please.
Also by:Creepy Castle
An Edwardian Christmas
I love your blog- we have very similar collections. Have you ever seen John Goddall's "Creepy Castle"?
ReplyDeleteI would have liked this better if he had changed what the audience was doing instead of having them exactly the same... kind of like Mercer Mayer's "Little Monster's Mother Goose" (which was also presented as a play). I think John Goddall missed an opprotunity to encourage more re-readings of this book. It is still grand, of course.
ReplyDeleteWow that looks wonderful, I don't think I've ever seen them before. I'll have to check the little used book store around the corner :)
ReplyDeleteOh no! Antmusic.. maybe I didn't make myself clear enough... but the action on the stage is actually a little book... the audience doesn't change because it is one page and the stage action flips within it... it is very very very cool.
ReplyDeleteWhat a find for you! This looks like such a lovely little book!
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