Bearskin (Books of Wonder)
by Howard Pyle
Our Price: $76.09
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.38 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Howard PyleIllustrator: Trina Schart Hyman
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09-26
ISBN: 0688098371
Number of pages: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Reviews of Bearskin (Books of Wonder)
Book Review: "I Am Going to Marry the Princess..."
Summary: 4 Stars
Howard Pyle is best known as the writer of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, a book that's widely considered to be the definitive compilation of the Robin Hood ballads into a cohesive whole. Though that's his most famous work, he also wrote two anthologies of fairytales: Pepper & Salt and The Wonder Clock. This adaptation of "Bearskin" is from the latter collection, and Pyle's love of fairytales and legends is apparent, for it reads like a composite tale of several other familiar stories.
A king is traveling through the country when he stops to rest and dine at a mill. For fun, he orders his wise man to read the fortune of the miller's newborn baby, but to his displeasure, the king is told that the infant will one day marry his own unborn daughter. To avoid this insulting fate, the king buys the infant from his father and gives the boy to one of his foresters to dispose of. Unable to go through with harming the boy, the forester instead hides him in a wicker basket and sends him downstream where he's adopted by a great she-bear.
Growing to manhood, the youth finally decides to leave the forest and explore the human world, taking with him a small horn from his foster-mother that she promises will call on help if he ever needs it. Hearing news that a dragon is destroying the land, Bearskin (named so for the bearskin that he wears wrapped around his shoulders) takes it upon himself to kill the beast and save the princess. Not all goes according to plan, as the dishonest steward of the king takes advantage of the situation and takes the dragon heads back to the castle and takes credit for the kill himself. With his reward being the hand of the princess in marriage, Bearskin must call on his cunning and wit if he's to save her and claim his destiny.
The story is full of "borrowings" from other fairytales, Biblical stories, mythology and legends: the prophesy that endangers a child, a huntsman who doesn't do his job, a baby set adrift on a river and raised by a wild animal, a magical gift that endows the hero with power, a dragon that needs slaying, a threefold trial, a sacrificial princess, and a secret test of character in which Bearskin reveals definitive proof that he and not the steward was responsible for the death of the dragon. Essentially, there's everything but the kitchen sink, making "Bearskin" both familiar and muddled.
Illustrator Trina Schart Hyman seems well aware of this, and the patchwork quality of the story is matched in the variety of ethnicities apparent in the story. One can only imagine what Pyle would have thought of all this, and at first glance it may seem to be a strained effort to be politically correct, but the warmth and vibrancy of Hyman's illustrations make this just a passing notion. Therefore, we have an Asiatic hero and an African princess in a European setting, made even odder by the fact that these characters have white biological parents. Of course, it doesn't stand up under close scrutiny, but in this case it's best just to embrace the general craziness of the story and the warped fairytale world in which Hyman sets it.
Human figures are always Hyman's strong point, capturing mannerisms and facial expressions as though they were real people; even posture differs from character to character. Here Bearskin makes a fascinating hero: effeminate and manly at the same time, with good humor and intelligence in his face, as though he finds the whole world to be a rather amusing place. The princess is spritely and lithe, and though she's quite passive in the text, Hyman makes sure that she's no wilting violet.
There are some hilarious illustrations here, such as the "portrait" shot of Bearskin and his adoptive mother proudly looking out at the reader, or the outdoor picnic that Bearskin and the swineherd enjoy as the pigs mill around them. Unfortunately, the dragon looks a little cartoony (a similar thing occurred in Hyman's Saint George and the Dragon), and the human element that isn't accorded to the she-bear doesn't quite meld with the straightforward depictions of the other animals present.
All in all, this is a rather strange story, with even stranger illustrations (in regards to style) but together Pyle's lyrical prose and Hyman's whimsical pictures somehow make it work.
Bears Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Bears Books
BOZ---God Gives You Friends (BOZ Series)by Michael Anthony Steele
Zonderkidz; Published: 2006-03-07; Board book; Book
Best price: $3.71
Price in other shops:
God Gave Us Youby Lisa T. Bergren
WaterBrook Press; Published: 2011-07-19; Board book; Book
Best price: $3.20
Price in other shops:
The Big Brown Bear (Family Storytime Little Golden Book)by George Duplaix
Golden Books; Published: 2001-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.99
Big Brown Bear Goes to Townby David McPhail
Harcourt Children's Books; Published: 2006-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops:
Between Heaven and Earth: Bird Tales from Around the Worldby Howard Norman
Harcourt Children's Books; Published: 2004-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Fix-It (Picture Puffin)by David McPhail
Puffin; Published: 1992-07-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.44
Price in other shops:
My Baby Sister (Humber and Plum)by Emma Chichester Clark
HarperCollins UK; Published: 2009-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.25
Price in other shops:
Bearsby Ruth Krauss
HarperCollins; Published: 2005-05-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Jamberryby Bruce Degen
HarperCollins; Published: 1983-03-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.79
Price in other shops:
The Winnie-the-Pooh CD (3 CD Set)by A.A. Milne
HarperFestival; Published: 2003-09-23; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.15
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Serpent Slayer: and Other Stories of Strong Womenby Katrin Tchana
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2000-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $105.19
Rapunzelby Barbara Rogasky, Jacob W. Grimm, Wilhelm Karl Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, Trina Schart Hyman
Holiday House; Published: 1982-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $235.36
Saint George and the Dragonby Margaret Hodges
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 1990-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Sleeping Beautyby Trina Schart Hyman
Little, Brown & Co.; Published: 1977-10-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $359.74
The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthurby Margaret Hodges
Holiday House; Published: 1990-08; School & Library Binding; Book
Best price: $11.41
Price in other shops:
Little Red Riding Hoodby Trina Schart (RTL) Hyman
Holiday House (P); Published: 1987-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.39
Price in other shops:
Snow Whiteby Paul Heins
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 1979-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.99
The Water of Life: A Tale from the Brothers Grimmby Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm
Holiday House; Published: 1986-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $95.90
Merlin and the Making of the King (Booklist Editor's Choice. Books for Youth (Awards))by Trina Schart Hyman
Spring Arbor/Ingram; Holiday House; Published: 2004-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthurby Margaret Hodges
Holiday House; Published: 1993-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.14
Price in other shops: