The Sleeping Beauty

Hyman, Trina Schart. The Sleeping Beauty. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977.

Click here to learn more about the illustrator and view some of her work.


This is a retelling of the Grimms version, so I will focus more on the illustrations here as I have already discussed the Grimms tale. Trina Schart Hyman captures the many emotions in the characters’ faces as well as the doom and gloom of the tale (an example of this doom and gloom can be seen by clicking here). She effectively demonstrates the passing of time by showing various seasons. Hyman also chose to have fairies rather than “wise women,” and I wonder if she did this because of the artistic possibilities this afforded her. The fairies wear fascinating costumes and don wings of all colors and sizes, and the thirteenth fairy is truly frightening with her hooded black cape and sunken eyes. I do think younger children would be scared of some of the illustrations found in this book, but I think older children would be drawn to the many works of art found on these pages, particularly those children with an interest in art. I think this book would be a great way to share the Grimms version because of the high caliber of illustrations.




1 comment:

Catherine Elizabeth said...

Trina Schart Hyman is my favorite! I love this picture book as well as other fairy tales she illustrated - Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.