Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert with text translated by Randall Jarrell (Caldecott Honor 1972) is a retelling from the Brothers Grimm. I did not like this book, either the translation or the illustrations.
The illustrations are infrequent and the text heavy (there is a two-page spread of text and then a two-page spread of illustration), and as ink or pencil drawings, I think they were rather ugly. The illustrations were given the Caldecott Honor, but I have no idea why. I don’t like looking at them, and I have a hard time believing that Snow-White is the fairest in the kingdom. Also, she is supposed to be seven years old in some of the pictures, but she looks much older.
I personally think the Brothers’ Grimm stories are not quite right for picture books – without some editing. Randall Jarrell included all the details, from the stepmother eating the lung of what she thought was her step daughter to the fact that a seven-year-old girl was caring for seven dwarfs and then enchanting a young prince.
All that said, I should note that many on Amazon and elsewhere praise the beauty of the illustrations and the value of sticking to the original translation: I’m obviously in the minority finding this horrific.
