The Sleeping Beauty

By Charles Perrault, Nikita Polyansky, Ima Ebong

Book Overview

This book introduces to the reader the young, 11-year-old Lena Gabrielle, who wants to attend the debut performance of The Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1890. Informed by her father that this is impossible-the performance is sold out-Lena Gabrielle begins her secret journey through the streets of the fabulous historic city, in an effort to get to the Mariinsky to see the ballet. During the course of her travels statues come alive, and she meets an endearing old man (Tchaikovsky), who leads her to the door of the Mariinsky and shows her the stage where the ballet will be performed. When Lena Gabrielle touches the curtain, it parts; and she sees with her own eyes the entire Sleeping Beauty ballet unfold before her.

The conclusion of the story leaves us wondering if Lena Gabrielle has actually witnessed this historic event-or just imagined it with such clarity that we feel we have been there ourselves. The book features the forty-eight page classic story taken directly from the first English translation of the French tale - on which the ballet is based - with 50 full-colour illustrations created expressly for this book. Lavishly illustrated by Russian set designer Nikita Polyansky and endorsed and overseen by the curatorial staff of The Mariinsky Theatre to ensure accuracy of representation, this unique rendition is sure to live beyond the exciting first year of it's introduction as companion to an important international event. With the special tie-in to an international press event and the longevity of a classic tale at its core, here is the only book that is sure to endure as classic product for years to come that tells the original story of Sleeping Beauty.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 097211520X
• ISBN13: 9780972115209
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: G Inc.
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.0" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 8 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 3 and higher

Customer Reviews

Like Shrek, Like Madeline

This book is a little gem! Like Shrek, you enter the wonderful dreamscape of fairy tales, and like Madeline, you have these delightful Bemelmans-esque illustrations and the tale of a very determined little girl. The story is a dream-within-a-dream type. Lena-Gabrielle dreams of going to the ballet alone (without parents) and fantastically the city of St. Petersburg becomes alive with talking gargoyles and things; then, she dreams of seeing the ballet of "The Sleeping Beauty" at the Mariinsky Theatre. This part of the story is based on the 1729 translation of the libretto of the actual ballet as performed in Russia. You feel so good about this book because it is such a great introduction to "the arts" --Fairy tales and literature, ballet, talk of great architecture, etc. It's a sure hit for almost any young girl and a pretty darn good story for boys, too. Excellent for bedtime reading and with enough rich illustration to challenge young readers to go it alone.