Swan Lake - Mark Helprin - Chris Van Allsburg: A modern version of Swan Lake in which a young girl learns who she is and faces a choice.
Written by Mark Helprin, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. First edition, 1989. Ariel Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Publishers.
I was enchanted by Helprin's retelling of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by the end of the first paragraph:
"Once, the mountains held within their silvered walls a forest so high and so gracefully forgotten that it rode above the troubles of the world as easily as the blinding white clouds that sometimes catch on jagged peaks and musically unfurl. Cold lakes scattered in the greenery ran so deep that soundings were of no avail, and the meadows along the tree line, suspended in the light, were as smooth and green as slabs of jade."
Yes, I see it all.
Peter Neumeyer, in his review for the New York Times, wrote:
"The Helprin-Van Allsburg ''Swan Lake'' is a provocative curiosity. Its source in myth, dance, music stresses the ineffable. Mr. Helprin rationalizes the magical and motivates the characters. At the same time, with arpeggios of language and with antic digression, he writes a textured novella that is accessible, at some level, to all ages. And Mr. Van Allsburg asserts his usual theme - matter-of-factly insisting on the absolute normality of the marvelous."
Read the review:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/books/children-s-books-who-needs-tchaikovsky.html
Mark Helprin is a distinguished novelist and has written two other children's books: A City in Winter and The Veil of Snows, also illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg.
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1962/mark-helprin-the-art-of-fiction-no-132-mark-helprin
Chris Van Allsburg is a Caldecott Award-winning artist, and one of my favorite illustrators. You'll probably find other books written and/or illustrated by Van Allsburg at The Charmed Bookshop.
https://www.societyillustrators.org/chris-van-allsburg-0
Condition*: Very Good. This beautifully written and illustrated book deserves to be read and enjoyed, so I scooped it up despite issues with condition I'd normally reject. The book, on the whole, is like-new: the pages are clean and crisp, the binding is tight. However, it's missing the white dust jacket and there's barely visible darkening of the blue cloth cover, front and back. It's not visible in the photos, you have to hold the book in the right light to see it, but it should be disclosed.
*Based on guidelines from the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.
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