The Cobbler's Reward

by Barbara Reid, Charles Mikolaycak (Illustrator), Ewa Reid

A cobbler's kindness to animals comes back to him when he attempts to outwit a witch and win a beautiful bride.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1978

About the author

As a child, Barbara Reid loved reading, drawing, writing and fooling around with plasticine. She kept at it, and has written and illustrated 19 picture books, illustrating more than 25. Her books have been published in over a dozen countries, and her signature plasticine relief illustrations have won many awards including a Governor General’s Award for Illustration and the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Her work has been selected for the IBBY International Honour List, Sydney Taylor Notable Books, the Toronto Public Library’s First and Best List and the Ontario Library Association Best Bets. Recently, Picture a Tree received starred reviews in Quill and Quire, the Horn Book, Kirkus and Booklist.

Through workshops and presentations across Canada, Barbara has enjoyed meeting thousands of young readers, writers and fellow plasticine artists. In July 2013 Barbara was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Barbara’s dimensional artwork is photographed for reproduction by photographer, and husband, Ian Crysler. Barbara lives in Toronto, but is at home in libraries and classrooms everywhere.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very pretty pictures, especially if you don't mind mustaches. But what about the other maidens? I guess they were 'wax' or maybe even just illusions. And the insta-love... well, I guess a fairy tale often has that. And when the witch fled, did she have to turn herself into a crow and reinforce the negative stereotype of the corvids?

I read this on openlibrary/Internet Archive and am glad that it off my list.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Polish folk tale tells about a kind but poor cobbler who, with the aid of animals that he has befriended, completes two tasks, and solves a riddle to rescue a maiden being held by an old witch in a castle tower.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because it was a folktale from Poland. I liked the theme of animals and humans helping each other. I'm sure I've read this story or one very like it somewhere else. Charles Mikolaycak's illustrations were beautiful as always, even though they were only in black and white. I was a bit bothered by the fact that various characters kept referring to the cobbler as a "little" fellow, but in the illustrations he doesn't seem of particularly small stature. The disconnect between the illustrations of the cobbler and his description in the text were jarring to me. Also, I was surprised to see an anatomically correct boy in a picture in the background of one of the illustrations--how did that get past the editors? I recommend this pleasant tale with the warning that, if you prefer your children's books without explicit anatomy, this may not be the book for you.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet story. I found the cobbler endearing and I enjoyed the style of the illustrations.