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The Royal Raven.
Written and Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm.
Preschool - Grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
**1/2 /4
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excerpt:
CRACK! The egg popped open and out came Crawford. ``Here I am!" he crowed. But there was no reply. His mother was out looking for food. He was all by himself. There was nobody to make a fuss about his arrival.
Then came an even bigger disappointment.
POOR CRAWFORD THE CROW has an identity crisis. He longs to be a bird with more ``razzle dazzle" than a plain black raven. He tries several ways to disguise his plainness, but when these attempts fail, he decides to do something drastic.
He cuts a deal,
and once the magic words are spoken, Crawford transforms into a bird more
gaudy than a peacock. After returning home to show off to the other
ravens, he decides staying in the forest would be a waste of his beauty.
So . . . he's off to the castle of the King.
Soon after his
arrival, Crawford is spotted and captured by the princess. At first he
loves the attention, but:
Unfortunately, the royal raven's table manners left much to be desired. He lost a great deal of his popularity when he caused a major ruckus in the royal dining room. He was ordered OUT!
Caged and
ignored, he longs to fly free and join the other birds. One day he
overhears the princess say that she wouldn't dream of releasing him,
since his fancy feathers are one of a kind. ``Suddenly Crawford
understood what he had to do to gain back his freedom."
Hans Wilhelm
based The Royal Raven on the story ``The Little Grey Bird,"
which appeared in an earlier collection. Crawford's undoing is similar to
the fate of the dog in Bill Peet's Wingdingdilly; ``pride
goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," and the
price of their fame and fortune is a cage.
Although readers
may relate to Crawford's desire for attention, it's hard to sympathize
his self-absorbed character. Sure, his mother was absent at his birth,
but why wasn't she able to teach him that beauty is only skin deep when
she returned?
And there's no
indication of why, when he had everything going for him, Crawford ``blew
it" with his bad table manners. Also confusing is that his ``friends" are
all happy to see him return -- but Crawford never appeared to have any
friends. His behaviour certainly didn't suggest that he bothered to
socialize with his fellow ``boring-looking" ravens.
The bargain he
strikes with the witch (who is carefully never labelled as such) is also
a little unbelievable. Crawford is willing to sell his soul for some
special effects, and all the woman wants in exchange are three
tail-feathers?
Fortunately,
Wilhelm's illustrations convey the transformation with some artistic
special effects. Similar to the flashy scales of Rainbow
Fish (Marcus Pfister), Crawford's new feathers are accented with
iridescent gold holographic foil. The rest of the characters appear in
the artist's characteristically charming watercolour style.
Readers who like
or need special effects will probably enjoy The
(moralistic) Royal Raven. However, Wilhelm's
Oh What a Mess, and I'll Always Love You have
much stronger storylines. Still, this book would be an acceptable
purchase for libraries.
Recommended.
A.Edwardsson works at a branch of the Winnipeg Public Library where she is in charge of the Children's department. She has a Bachelor of Education degree, Child Care Worker III certification and is a member of the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Authors Association.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cmeditor@mts.net.
Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364