Jim Aylesworth

When Aunt Pitty Patty takes her young niece Nelly to the market, they come home with a "fine fat piggy." But though they coax, and though they push, that stubborn little piggy refuses to go through the gate, sitting there saying "No, no, no, I will not go!". With Aunt Pitty Patty needed in the kitchen, it's up to Nelly to solve the problem, and off she goes, attempting unsuccessfully to enlist the help of a variety of creatures and objects. How will she ever get that pig through the gate, if show more no one will help her...?

Like many of their other collaborative projects - The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks And The Three Bears, The Tale Of Tricky Fox - this picture-book adventure from Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock is great fun, and I imagine that its cumulative refrain, in which Nelly repeats the growing list of recalcitrant creatures each time she makes a new request - would make excellent material for reading aloud. This format seemed very familiar to me, although I couldn't quite place it. I'm sure I've read some folktales with a similar structure, but as Aylesworth gives no attribution, and I can't recall a specific source, I'm going to assume that this is an original story inspired by the folkloric tradition.

McClintock's illustrations here are appealing, her Nelly looking like an earlier model of the mischievous Goldilocks from her later book. But though they were enjoyable, somehow they weren't quite the equal of some of her other work. Or perhaps I should say, I didn't appreciate them as much? Done in pencil and watercolor, rather than the ink, watercolor and gouache of so many of McClintock's other titles, they were not as crisp, although her colors were still lovely (love that autumn foliage!). All in all, a winsome little book, although I probably wouldn't rank it amongst my favorites, by this author/illustrator team. show less

Exactly how many versions of this old Ukrainian folktale, in which a lost mitten provides temporary shelter to an assortment of wild creatures, have I read? Well, let's see... there Jan Brett's The Mitten, currently in print, and probably the best known adaptation of this story in the United States. There's Alvin Tresselt's classic retelling from the 1960s, recently made available again; Irina Zheleznova's The Old Man's Mitten, printed in the former USSR for the English-language audience; show more and (of course) there's the version illustrated by E. Bulatov and O. Vasiliev, shaped like a mitten itself.

Having read all four of these picture-books, not to mention the adaptations to be found in larger collections such as Irina Zheleznova's Ukrainian Folk Tales, I thought I was done with this story, which (despite my folkloric interest) has never been one of my favorites. But not so!, say Aylesworth and McClintock, whose new rendition is undoubtedly my favorite yet! With an entertaining narrative just made for reading aloud - "Please! begged the fox. / My toes are cold as ice! / Your mitten looks so cozy, / and warm toes would feel so nice!" - and endearing ink, gouache and watercolor illustrations, this delightful title breathes new life into an old tale.

A true accomplishment! But then, what else would you expect from this author/illustrator team, whose many projects, from The Gingerbread Man to The Tale Of Tricky Fox, are unfailingly excellent? show less

After recently reading Ruth Sanderson's Goldilocks, which was a little too sweet for me, as well as Lauren Child's Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which I thought quite good, despite the fact that its doll-centered illustrations were not really to my taste, I'm delighted to have found this edition, retold by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by the marvelous Barbara McClintock. As Goldilocks herself would have it, it was "just right!"

With an engaging text that just begs to be read aloud - "Yes show more she did," declares the narrator on more than one occasion, or "No indeed, she didn't!" - and immensely appealing watercolor, ink and gouache illustrations, this Goldilocks is a winner. McClintock is particularly successful at depicting the emotional reactions of her characters, whether human or ursine, and young readers will identify with the bears' surprise on arriving home to find their house in disarray, as well as Goldilocks' dismay and terror, when she wakes up to find herself confronting the owners of the house she had been exploring. Humorous and entertaining, this edition is sure to please fairy-tale lovers young and old! show less

Using the Yiddish folk song Hob Ikh Mir a Mantel ("I Had a Little Overcoat") as a starting point, author Jim Aylesworth and illustrator Barbara McClintock tell the tale of a man—the narrator's grandfather—who made himself a handsome coat for his wedding. A tailor by trade, the man wore his coat out, at which point he transformed it into a sharp jacket. Repeating the process, with the jacket becoming a vest, the vest a tie, the tie a kitten's toy, and the kitten's toy a mouse's nest, the show more narrative follows the grandfather through the years, as he raises a daughter, cherishes a granddaughter, and adores a great-granddaughter. Eventually the coat became nothing—nothing but a story...

Having greatly enjoyed many of the other picture-books created by this author/illustrator team—The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Tale of Tricky Fox, etc.—I went into My Grandfather's Coat with pleased anticipation, and I was not disappointed. I found the story engaging, and appreciated the message about being frugal and remaking items in our possession, and the themes of hard work and family love. The accompanying artwork by McClintock, done in ink and watercolor, was lovely, although I don't know that I would say it was the best work she had done. There is another picture-book retelling of this song, Simms Taback's Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, which won the Caldecott Medal in 2000, that has a very different illustrative style. I enjoyed that telling as well, and think reading the two together would be an interesting exercise for young people on the idea that different authors and artists interpret the same source material differently. Recommended to fellow fans of this author and artist, as well as to those seeking picture-books with a Jewish cultural background. show less