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HomeBooksBritish Poets & PoetryThe Canterbury Tales (Oxford Illustrated Classics Series) |
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5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
DO YOUR KID (AND YOURSELF) A FAVOR...GET THEM THIS WONDERFUL WORK. Mar 05, 2011
By D. Blankenship
"Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote...."
So begins the first two lines in the original tale by Geoffrey Chaucer when he wrote it in about 1387.
Well, to get a young child to read and understand this is a daunting task; he or she will have a multitude of problems understanding the text unless he or she is familiar and indeed, fluent in Middle English. I know of few young children in this day and age that hold these qualifications...hey, I have been reading and studying this stuff for many, many years and even I (although I admit to not being that bright to begin with), have troubles with it.
And what a shame this is. The Canterbury Tales have much to give us and when the reader fully understands the words and stories, they are entertaining, funny, informative and simply a pure joy. So what to do? How can we introduce our young folks to one of the great pillars of the English literary cannon? How do we create an interest which will lead them to continue their reading and investigation; thereby increasing their reading joy, as they grow older? How can we set them up so that later they can fully understand and appreciate our English language and our English story telling traditions?
I must tell you...this book by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus is a very, very good and wonderful start.
The author has taken these classic tales and rewritten them so that our "modern" youth can understand them. I note the target age on this book is for children between the ages of 4 and 8. To be honest though, I truly feel that this is a miss and that this work is geared more for those between the ages of 8 and 14. (More about that latter.)
The book has been set up at the beginning of the journey and each tale is told in order, although you will note that the names of the stories have been changed to be a bit more user friendly. We have titles such as:
The Knight's tale of Chivalry and Rivalry
The Miller's story is A Barrel of Laughs
The Wife of Bath tells us What Women Most Desire
The Franklin's romance, entitled Love on the Rocks
and so on....
It should be noted here that the author has removed the more "earthy" aspect of Chaucer's writing and made it completely child appropriate. Do note though that this IS NOT a "Dick and Jane" type of book. The author has kept the essence of the story alive and there are aspects of each story that may require some adult explanation from time to time. This is good though as it moves the child into a different level of learning. Let me give you an example of this:
"The Sea Captain was much less polite. `When I was sailing a dhow on the Red Sea, I sank a ship carrying two hundred Holy Grails, a flock of sheep's bones - and each one bottled and labeled with a different saint's name - and enough splinters from the Cross to build Noah's ark all over again. As for Our Lady's head-cloth - that's all supposing she dressed like the Widow here - I've seen enough to make sails for the English fleet!"
The book is heavily and wonderfully illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus and the paintings are almost as much a delight as the text.
Now I know there are those of you who are purists out there...I am a bit of one myself, but in the case of this particular work I personally feel what the author has done is perfectly appropriate. I realize that there are those youths that can do it, but in all truth trying to get a Jr. High kid or High School student to read and enjoy the original in Middle English...well, good luck with that!
There have been several editions of this work published over the years. The one being reviewed here is the 1984 edition from Childrens Press Choice - Rand McNally.
NOTE: As to the age group targeted by this work. To be quite frank, as an adult who is quite familiar with the original, I must admit that I enjoyed this work greatly and see no reason what so ever for an adult reader not taking advantage of its availability.
Anyway...do your kid a favor and add this one to their library...you can sneak around and read it yourself when she or he is playing their video games.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
10 of 29 found the following review helpful:
A VERY IN DEPTH LOOK AT SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES Jun 21, 1998
CHAUCER EXPLORES THE DARKER SIDE OF HUMANITY IN THE CANTERBURY TALES. RELIGION IS TESTED, AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS PROVEN CORRUPT. STORIES INSIDE STORIES ARE IMAGINITIVE AND FUNNY.
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