Mother Holly

I love Bernadette Watts' versions of fairy tales. She seems to have a particular affinity for The Brothers Grimm and her complex pictures match the light and dark of the text very well. All her versions make no concessions as far as language is concerned and so are rich diets for young children . . . and none the worse for that. Mother Holly is a highly moral tale about virtue rewarded with a rather macabre sub-text in which the daughters are plainly dead and in heaven (or perhaps purgatory?) through most of the story. The ending always strikes me as a little weak; the sudden conversion of the lazy daughter is not satisfying; I would like it to end with her return, covered in pitch, and let the rest be supposed. Still, all in all, a very satisfying book and one that ought to be part of all children's literary luggage.