Peter and the Wolf

by Michele Lemieux, Sergei Prokofiev

Discover Prokofiev's classic adventure classic adventure of a brave and clever boy and his friends the bird, the duck, and the cat, and what they do when a wolf comes out of the forest. Full-color illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ink on paper

The tangled mass represents
outer choices and also the "inner architecture" that evolves as we
live and learn. It suggests the many questions we have about life, especially as a teenager. A boy juggles stars in the upper-right corner.

Ms. Lemieux has illustrated many books in a variety of mediums. She both illustrated and wrote Stormy Night, which has been translated into fourteen languages, won the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award, and was made into an animated film that won the Crystal Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

When she was a child, Ms. Lemieux loved to write stories and draw pictures for them. She would make up little booklets that she would give away as Christmas presents. Her mother was an artist and always encouraged her. But she remembers one class assignment in which students had to write about what they wanted to do when they got older. While all the other girls had traditional goals like getting married or becoming a nurse, she felt embarrassed and strange that she was the only one who said that she wanted to write and illustrate.

As an adult, two of her favorite artists are Picasso and Saul Steinberg. She knows a lot of people who have no goals and complain about their life. She lives by a quote from Seneca, "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."

"If I was stranded alone on an island, I would build something with my hands, even if no one ever saw it.
I have a need to create, to be a part of life and leave something behind."

Reviews

[Alexandra Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore the story of Peter and the Wolf, so I was excited to read this Children's picture book. The story was great, as expected, my only issue was the format. It seemed like too many words on each page for a Children's book. The illustrations were very realistic and medieval. Most illustrations were on a double spread, with some single spreads thrown in as well. The copyright page of this book was in the back rather than the front, but I found that the illustrator used oil pastels on the artwork. This would be considered a modern picture book because the format was very simple and casual, something I've seen multiple times before.

[Cws]

JE398.2-Lem

[Professor · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be hard to make a version of this story that I wouldn't enjoy reading to my son, but somehow this author did it.