Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

by Leonard B. Lubin (Adapted By, Illustrator), Richard Francis Burton (Original Translator)

A poor tailor's lazy son finds a magic lamp and uses it to win the hand of a beautiful princess.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

37 pages, Hardcover

Published June 28, 1982

Reviews

[Abigail]

Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, translated by Sir Richard F. Burton, illustrated by Leonard Lubin.

Taken from Sir Richard F. Burton's massive translation of The Arabian Nights, this picture-book relates the adventures of Aladdin, the lazy son of a poor tailor, who wins a fortune, and the hand of the Emperor's daughter, with the help of a magic lamp and its genie-inhabitant.

When a Moroccan magician arrives in China, and pretends to be Aladdin's long-lost uncle, the young man is initially fooled. But after being holed up in the ground and left for dead, he soon realizes his mistake. Luckily, he has access to a magic ring and lamp, and his fortune soon takes a turn for the better. But will Aladdin be able to hold onto his newfound happiness and blessings, when the magician returns...?

While I appreciated that this adaptation included the original Chinese setting of the tale, I found the narrative only moderately engaging. Leonard Lubin's blue Chinoiserie illustrations, while appropriate to the tale, left me unmoved. All in all, this is not a title I would recommend to anyone but the most dedicated Arabian Nights enthusiast.

[Sheila]

This children's adaptation of Aladdin follows the original Arabian Nights version, as translated by Richard Burton. The original story is quite a bit different from the Disney adaptation of Aladdin. This book is a good way to introduce children to the story as it was originally told.

[Art]

On the positive side, this short book's typeface and illustrations are well done. Of course, it was a quick read at 39 pages. I also appreciated the hard binding.

On the negative side, I found the book only tolerable and not pleasant enough to recommend--especially to most children. Having read positive comments about Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights, I thought I would explore each tale individually. To my surprise, this version of Aladdin is very different from the various adaptations I'm familiar with, with much more darkness.

Interestingly, the language is very archaic, with words such as hast, thou, and so on. I don't recall seeing that in many books from the 19th century. Not being familiar with Mr. Burton's writing style, this surprised me.

[Sean Sheridan]

This story doesn’t leave much for itself except that there was a Disney movie made after it. The main character is selfish and only thinks of himself, and somehow at the end he’s a great ruler? Just some magic and mysticism.

[Diana Long]

A fairy tale from The Arabian Nights collected by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book.