Alain VaësReseñas

The medieval beast epic of Reynard the Fox gets the metafictional treatment in this text-heavy picture-book from author/illustrator Alain Vaës, published in 1994. When the leonine King Harald has doubts about his fitness to rule, his queen calls upon a mysterious hermit living nearby to come to court, and share his wisdom. The hermit relates the story of another lion king, one who had to deal with a troublesome courtier named Reynard - a fox who was always starting feuds with the other animals. The hermit goes on to describe the many incidents of Reynard's history, concluding with his triumph over his wolf adversary in personal combat. Here however, in stark contrast to the traditional story of Reynard, the hermit describes the fox as having a moment of truth upon the battlefield. He realizes that his conflicts with the other animals are pointless, and that he himself is much to blame for his current state. Eventually he is reformed, and appointed Lord High Chancellor of the Animal Kingdom, becoming their first ambassador to the human world. Switching back to the court of King Harald, the narrative follows the mysterious hermit as, story told, he departs for his home. In the final illustration the reader sees a fox tail peeking out from underneath the hermit's robe, revealing that the storyteller has perhaps been Reynard himself...

Alan Vaës' Reynard the Fox was the final text I considered in the research I conducted for my masters dissertation, written on three centuries of Reynard retellings for children in the Anglophone world. It was quite different from every version of the story I had encountered until that point, taking the didactic use of the tale - something evident in all previous tellings - and making that use a part of the main narrative itself, rather than something discussed in forewords, introductions, afterwords, or moral asides. This Reynard is also quite distinct, in that it is the fox himself - if we are to believe that this is what the final illustrations is telling us - who, for the first time, narrates his own story for the reader. Like some of his predecessors in the field of Reynard storytelling for children, Vaës changes the outcome of the story, having his character reform, rather than simply triumph and carry on with his wicked ways. His purpose in doing so however, seems less to do with punishment - many of the other authors who changed the ending did so to kill the fox - and more to do with his vision of Reynard's purpose. This is best expressed by the lion king (the one in the inset story), who declares to Reynard that "You have proved to us more than once that no other animals can match your cleverness and craft, so it is our royal pride in you as one of us to send you forth to demonstrate to the humans that animals can match wits with them and even teach them a thing or two."

With such an unusual take on the Reynard story, both in terms of how it is told and what it means, this picture-book was fascinating to me. It was also beautifully illustrated, and a pleasure to pore over. Recommended to anyone who enjoys revisionist/fractured fairy and folktales, and the fans of the Reynard story.

The Princess and the Pea is about a prince who is ready to get married, but his mother, the queen is more concerned on her jewel collection. The Queen does not want her son to get married so she makes up ridiculous test's that no young lady can pass. The prince eventually drives away and meets Opal. Opal captures the princes heart and is able to pass the Queen's test. The prince and Opal eventually live happily ever after.

Teaching Ideas: hard work, greed,

The Princess and the Pea is a cute, adapted tale. It's highly rooted in moral values for young readers to grasp. The queen's son wants to marry and he finds love in a unlikely character from "the other side of town". This mentality of an upper and lower side of town is an idea that many students can relate with. Socioeconomic class is something that young students are taught exist and separate people but in this story the prince of upper side and princess of lower fall in love despite all that. Also, the queen's greed for beautiful gems makes her the "evil" vs. the good in this story. From this tale I would hope unconsciously students would be rooting for the prince and princess and not care that they are from different places. In a classroom without diversity this is an important thing to learn, that there are more people outside the walls of school. In a diverse classroom this tale would be a reminder that love, relationships, and a person's value is important despite where they came from.

This is a more up to date version of the classic "The Princess and the Pea." This version involves the Prince's car breaking down and the Princess being there at the right time to help him out. This is during the time that the Prince is looking for a wife, and he falls in love with the Princess, Opal. The Queen wanted all of the jewels so she ordered that no one get married until her son does so that she could have all of the jewels. She became so obsessed with her collection that she would fail each Princess that the Prince presented to her, until she found out that Opal was going to be inheriting lots of jewels. I would use this book to teach about greed and what how it not only hurts others but you as well.

The Princess and the Pea is a book about a royal family of Crestalia. The Queen of upper Crestalia is very into gems, stone diamonds, etc. she has a greed about it, and just wants all the gems in the world. When her son comes to ask her for marriage, she gets scared that the wedding might be too expensive or she might have to give up on of her gems. So she makes a proclamation that no one can get married or engaged until the prince is settled down. So she picks three girls and tests them each two test. They all end up failing and the prince storms out for a drive. While he is out his car breaks down. Someone stops to help him, and she ends up being the princess of lower Crestalia. He really likes her so he takes her home. The queen tested her, and she passed both tests. But the queen said she has one more test in mind. So she put 20 mattresses on top of each other and placed a pea between them. The queen said that a princess is supposed to be sensitive so if she gets a good night sleep she is not a princess. The princess’s necklace got caught underneath her so it bothered her the whole night. The next morning she stated that she didn’t get any sleep, and the prince got so excited. The princess stated that it was from her opal necklace but its okay because she has so many gems she will be inheriting. The queen loved this news and accepted the princess o marry her son.

The Princess and the Pea is about a prince who is ready to get married, but his mother, the queen is more concerned on her jewel collection. She does not want to give any of her gems away and wants her collection to grow and grow. She decides that no one can marry or become engaged until her son finds a wife. She thinks this will get her more jewels if no one is buying them. Every applicant that comes along to parry the prince had to go through ridiculous test, no one passes. The prince drives off and brakes down, where he meets Opal. He brings her back home with him and she meets the queen and has to pass the test also, Opal passes all the test and when the queen finds out she will inherit all kinds of jewels when she becomes princess the queen falls in love with her and starts planning the wedding.

This is an updated, fractured fairy tale of the princess and the pea. The prince's car broke down on the side of the road, the princess is the tow truck driver who rescues him. Instead of the pea keeping her up during a visit with the Prince's parents, it was a necklace that was tangled in her hair. In the end, they live happily ever after.

Very good Reynard the fox book with good illustrations by Vaes Alain