Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 1994 (Vol. 48, No. 4))
Brooke's first two books (A Telling of the Tales, BCCB 5/90, and Untold Tales, 9/92) were sophisticated, layered, and funny retellings of folklore; in Teller he has added another level-he is telling tales about retelling tales. The background story is that of an old man who is learning to tell old stories through the new medium of type; he is encouraged, taunted, and eventually loved as a father by a tough and streetwise young girl whom he takes into his home. Using these two characters sometimes as tale-telling mouthpieces and sometimes as folkloric dramatis personae, Brooke tells versions of "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Goldilocks," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Rumpelstiltskin," with the tales shaped to shed both light and mystery upon the relationship between the man, Teller, and the girl, whose name continually changes. This is conceptually elaborate but smooth and compact to read; the stories, which Teller says "are meant to illuminate the originals, not corrupt them," generally perform that task quite well, and the frequent wit lends a playfulness to the enterprise. The occasional paeans to the power of story are touched with a self-conscious sentimentality that crops up in the work as a whole now and then, but the book is still an entertaining and unusual read. In addition to fans of the earlier books, kids who liked The Magic Circle, or who regretfully think themselves too old for The Stinky Cheese Man, will appreciate the blend of tradition and exploration here. R--Recommended. (c) Copyright 1994, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1994, HarperCollins, 170p, $14.89 and $15.00. Grades 6-9 ( )