library_mama | The Elves and the Shoemaker (Reply)

The Elves and the Shoemaker by John Cech. Illustrated by Kirill Chelushkin "A long, long time ago, when shoes were still made by shoemakers and not by machines in factories, a shoemaker and his wife found themselves in very hard times." So begins this new retelling of a classic fairy tale. The shoemaker cuts out his last pair of shoes before going to bed, but when he wakes up in the morning, they are beautifully put together. They sell for enough money to buy double the amount of leather, and thus turn around his fortunes. Finally, he and his wife decide to investigate, and find that a pair of elves in worn-out clothing are responsible. The language is good, but the pictures are what really stand out. They are ink and watercolor illustrations, in a palette of mostly browns and black with the occasional bits of red or orange. Chelushkin plays with the perspective, so that a plane can be a table on top and a house or a hat underneath, while little elves of all shapes crowd the edges of the pictures. They are more eerie than usual for fairy tales, but very fun to find everything going on.