Fairy tales of Oscar Wilde: Vol. 2,The young king, The remarkable rocket

Gr. 5-8. The second volume in a series of comic book adaptations of Wilde's tales [see BKL Ja 15 93 for previous volume] gives "The Young King" and "The Remarkable Rocket" the Marvel-DC treatment. In elaborate underground "comix" style, Russell reintroduces the tales with an accessible if nontraditional approach to picture-book illustration and better-than-average adaptations of the original texts. Whether you believe circulating comics in the library is appropriate or not, this full-color book won't stay on the shelf for long, and it may well attract readers to a genre they might not usually find appealing. ~--Janice Del Negro

Two Wilde tales about self-important characters, one who sees the error of his ways and one who does not, are presented in comic-book style. The color illustrations range from attractive to garish. The text is condensed but otherwise unaltered from Wilde's original words. These graphic adaptations may spur some readers to seek out the full-length works. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.