Product Details
Mother Holly: A Retelling from the Brothers Grimm

Mother Holly: A Retelling from the Brothers Grimm
By John W Stewig

This item is not available for purchase from this store.
Buy at Amazon


15 new or used available from CDN$ 2.81

Average customer review:
(2 )

Product Description

Two sisters--kind, industrious Rose and vain, lazy Blanche--experience two very different adventures when each tumbles down a well and into the magical world of Mother Holly. Rose's journey begins accidentally, but because of her generosity to all she meets along the way, and her hard work for ugly but kind Mother Holly, she returns home in a shimmering gown covered in gold. Envious of Rose's good fortune, Blanche decides to visit Mother Holly herself, but her pride, laziness, and foul temper earn her an apt and well-deserved punishment. John Warren Stewig's retelling of this little-known tale by the Brothers Grimm offers children a satisfying new ending that demonstrates how with help, redemption is possible. And Johanna Westerman's lovely, intricately detailed illustrations, as spellbinding as Mother Holly's magic door, are pure enchantment.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #2281357 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-08-01
  • Original language: English
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 40 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
John Warren Stewig offers a faithful retelling of the Grimm tale featuring the sisters, one kind, the other mean and lazy, who visit Mother Holly and receive vastly different recompense for their efforts while in her employ. Illustrations by Johanna Westerman convey the mean-spirited stepmother and her daughter, and the kind Rose, whose inner beauty shines forth.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. Stewig breathes new life into a lesser-known story by the Brothers Grimm. Rose is the good, hardworking sister; her stepsister, Blanche, of course, is the spiteful, lazy one. When Rose follows her spindle down a well, she finds herself in a different land, where she helps an apple tree shake itself free of fruit and milks a cow whose udders are full. She also lives with the ugly but kind Mother Holly and is showered in gold for her trouble. Then Blanche goes down the well, but she finds that the choices she makes lead to thorns. In an ending of his own, Stewig has the girls returning together to Mother Holly, and Blanche is finally rewarded after Rose teaches her helpfulness. In his author's note, Stewig says the story reinforces his belief that with help we can all change. Kids will probably prefer the less-didactic original in which good trumps nasty. Still, this is an engaging retelling that captures the cadence of fairy tales as well as the genre's subtle lessons. Westerman's watercolor illustrations, a good balance of delicate and strong, overflow with lovely detail. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

John Warren Stewig has written ten picture books, including King Midas, which School Library Journal called "playful and sophisticated" in a starred review. He lives in Glendale, Wisconsin.


Westerman is a graduate of Scripps College, where hse majored in studio art.