Seven Fathers

Gr 2 Up—Striking collage art accompanies a fluid retelling of a lesser-known Norwegian folktale originally collected by Asbøjrnsen and Moe. Trudging through an icy, snow-spattered landscape, a weary traveler spies a house and hopes for a bed for the night. But the man he encounters tells him, "I am not the father of the house, you must ask my father." This man repeats the reply and the prospective guest must inquire further. Each father grows progressively older and smaller until the seventh father—just a speck of dust in a large horn—tells the traveler that he can stay. Set against a warm brown background, Young's minimalist yet highly expressive illustrations use a strong black line to artfully convey the wintry setting and the stranger's encounters with the fathers. As the story progresses, the elegant art becomes less abstract and more colorful, and the persistent fellow is rewarded by a feast and a bed. Ramsden stays close to the original story, and even improves it with a storyteller's flair for dramatic language though he embellishes the ending, turning the seven fathers into young men the age of the traveler; they honor him by placing their crowns at his feet. Children are likely to be fascinated by the successive images of the old men, but puzzled by the story's conclusion. This visually stunning retelling will be best appreciated by older readers who can appreciate the spiritual underpinnings of the tale.—Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT