The Four Gallant Sisters

By Eric A. Kimmel, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm

Book Overview

Four orphaned sisters disguise themselves as men so as to go out into the world and learn a trade. Once each sister has become highly skilled, they join the household of a young king where they rescue a princess and her brothers from the clutches of a dragon. After they've proven that they are not only skilled but courageous, intelligent, insightful, and wise, they have to face one more challenge. Will they continue to convince the king that they're men? And having met four young princes, do the four sisters want to?Eric A. Kimmel has combined and reformulated two Grimm Brothers stories to give us a view of girls who are active and powerful and good-who do the rescuing themselves and end up living happily ever after. The story takes place in a richly textured court filled with traditional splendor, which Tatyana Uditskaya modeled after sixteenth-century Flemish and Spanish paintings.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805019014
• ISBN13: 9780805019018
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 0.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

excellent children's book

My daughter, who is 10, requested that we buy this after we took it out of the library and read it at home.

Great fairy tale with a wink to gender roles

This story has cleverness, humor and, of course, a happy ending. Four orphaned sisters surmise that they need to hide their identities to thrive in a man's world. They go their separate ways, and seven years later return to their mother's grave as a tailor, a hunter, a finger artist and a star gazer. Together, they combine their skills to win jobs at the king's court, and in the course of their service rescue a princess and her four brothers and end up living happily ever after. The winking starts when the king's mother realizes that the servants are women but can't prove it because the sisters outwit her- not by playing into her stereotypes, but by playing the part and not playing the part. The mother, though she knows she is right, shows compassion and leaves off her pursuit. The princess, however, the seeming damsel in distress, figures it out and proves it quickly (but I won't tell how!). This entertaining fairytale is a good story on its face but will also provide slightly older readers (ages 7 and up) with the opportunity to talk about gender roles and stereotypes.

Great book - can teach the next generation boys & girls

This book is very entertaining reading with beautiful illustrations. My 2 yr old daughter loves to hear it, but I think I enjoy it even more. The book is about 4 girls who need to make it in the world. They do not want to be dependent on anyone, but know that being women will make it difficult to become successful. It explains how they learn their trades & land great jobs. In the end, they marry men who love them for who they are and the skills that they have (but marriage was not their only goal in life). In addition, the words of the princess bride can teach a lesson for the next generation.