Ouch!

This is a cute retelling of one of Grimm's tales. It is about a boy born with a birth mark that foretells he will be a king. The current king tries to get rid of him three times. The final is the quest to get three of the devil's golden hairs. He is helped by the ferryman, and the devil's own Grandmother, who not only protects him, but gets him the hairs and a treasure chest. He then tricks the King into getting trapped as the ferryman. All the others live happily every after. A fantastic novelette. (First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)

I picked this book up for my weekly volunteer read-to to a second grade class. The children loved it! They thought the story very unique ...the idea of the trip to the devil's house and his grandma was just silly and a hoot. The hero is confident and surprisingly smart. The pictures are wonderful. And of course, good triumphs over the wicked king in the end. The next week, when I returned, I had 2 students ask me for the name of the story as they'd tried to relate the story to their parents. I think it'd be a great and very interesting gift.

I just happened to pick up this book at my local library, and my was it refreshing! This book was smartly done. IT is humorous, witty, and keeps you reading until the very end. Yes it is a children's book, but I sure enjoyed it and so did my kids. Natalie Babbitt certainly gives children alot of credit where many children's authors don't. Read this book!