Product Description

Wizards and knights! Queens and quests! The tales of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table are legendary favorites whose appeal transcends time. This gorgeously illustrated collection–unavailable for decades–combines the work of renowned illustrator Gustaf Tenggren with captivating storytelling, and reignites the magic of
an age long ago and far away.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #903642 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-08
• Released on: 2002-10-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From Amazon.com
No kid should have to grow up without a healthy helping of King Arthur and his noble knights (to better understand Monty Python later in life, if nothing else), and this stunningly illustrated, faithfully recounted collection has few equals.

Originally published in 1962, the handsome reprint includes the same illustrations that made the original so compelling: the late Swedish artist Gustaf Tenggren (also responsible for the bestselling kids' book of all time) captures these stories' bravado and high adventure with majestic, almost theatrically composed paintings, many of which stretch dramatically over two pages. Tenggren's credits also include the original concept art for Disney's Snow White and Pinocchio, and you'll find that same posed, classical style here. (Although be warned that, like the Arthurian legends themselves, things can get a little messy, whether it's Lancelot's sword splitting Meliagrance's helmet in half or the giant Taulurd getting his arm chopped off by Sir Tor.)

Tenggren's illustrations are clearly the star of the show, but the collection also features excellent text from Emma Gelders Sterne (who was pretty noble herself, as a civil rights and women's suffrage activist), with the help of her daughter Barbara Lindsay. Perhaps realizing that these tales sometimes require affection and patience to fully appreciate, they never shirk from occasionally challenging but satisfying period language, from damsel's "wimples" to "churls in armor." (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes