The Girl in the Golden Bower

By Jane Yolen

Book Overview

Orphaned while still a young girl, Curry befriends the woodland creatures by untangling their matted fur with a comb given to her by her dying mother. In return, the animals protect Curry from the terrifying beast that roams the forest and from the wicked sorceress who searches endlessly for the charm that will lead her to fabled riches. Full-color illustrations.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316968943
• ISBN13: 9780316968942
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 0.5" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

another happy ending for youngsters

This is the story of Curry, the orphaned daughter of a woodsman. She is protected from beasts and a sorceress by the animals she has befriended. Jane Dyer's gold-washed watercolor illurtrations add greatly to the appeal of this lived-happily-ever-after tale.

Golden Treasure of a Book

This is one of those rare perfect books that transports you completely into its pages and guides you along a twisting, enchanted path overgrown with wonders and delights until you emerge at the end, calmly satisfied from your travels. Jane Yolen's story-telling is as lovely as ever and has little rhyming spells sprinkled throughout that make the tale seem as though you are there at its unfolding. The illustrations are truly marvelous and curl up around the text which is printed on a softly glowing golden wash. Flowering vines climb up around the borders of many of the pages. The tale has a little orphaned girl set against a wicked witch who comes looking for an enchanted treasure. Before her mother dies she gives the little girl a beautiful golden comb as a keepsake. The witch puts a spell on the child to try to force her into revealing the location of the enchanted treasure that she knows has to be somewhere nearby. The animals of the forest befriend the little girl and in the end a wonderful justice occurs. The story is so precious and has a thoughtful message to suggest. This has a lot of the ingredients that you've seen in countless other fairy tales but here they seem so freshly tender and heart-touching. Treat yourself and any little ones you know to a splendid story.

Beautiful

The teaming of Jane Yolen and Jane Dyer is something I truly appreciate. Yolen, the talented author of many books for children, youth, and adults, is a master story teller. Dyer has demonstrated her ability to excel in many artistic styles. As in another teaming, Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (go find this!), the work of the two seamlessly plays off each other to create a beautiful fairy tale with equally beautiful pictures. The imagery and wording in the story itself is enough to make this a story worth reading, but the illustrations add so much more. I strongly recommend this book to parents and teachers to read to and along with a child. However, be sure to give them enough time to peruse each page, as the illustrations are rich and deserve observation.

Unusual and Fascinating

This is an unusual fairytale story with beautiful illustrations. It will take the reader and the listener to a different time and place. The descriptions are so vivid that you will imagine you can see the story unfolding.