Town Musicians of Bremen

Such a nice "feel-good" story and what beautiful illustrations. Lisbeth Zwerger is one of my favourite illustrators and this book doesn't disappoint. She seems to have evolved her own style ...away from the rather Rackham-esque style of "The Nightingale" (which I really liked) to something that is a bit more abstract: weird perspective and lots of free space....but still with a touch of realism about the animals for example. The Robbers meal...complete with spilt red wine and robbers with their heads in their plates is great. And I love the way she has captured the donkey...especially on the cover and on p3 (the pages are unnumbered). Something about his gentleness and age....captured beautifully. Also a great rooster on p15. All in all show more a lovely book.....beautifully bound and printed. Happy to give it 5 stars. show less

I've always liked this tale. Shub's translation is a little richer & longer than many. Domanska's art is not to my taste.

The telling and illustration are kind of formal, but I think it works in this telling that is just as much about appreciating the elderly as it is about outwitting thieves.

The old animals - dog, cat, rooster and donkey head off to Bremen to be musicians and get away from their masters who don't need them anymore. They form a sort of alliance and when they stumble upon a house full of robbers, they use their crazy antics and a little luck to scare those robbers right out of there! I don't think they ever make it to Bremen, but they retire in a warm place with a lot of food!

This was one of my favorite stories from my childhood. The illustrations are both colorful and humorous. I think this would be a good read aloud for a folktale theme.

Another great Brother's Grimm story... This one is about a group of old animals trying to make it to Bremen Town to become musicians! Fun illustrations and a very creative story.

The Bremen Town Musicians by the Brothers Grimm is a very popular fairy tale in Austria and Germany. The English version (translated by Lisbeth Zwerger) is nice but it doesn't come across the unique story of these 4 animals who want to walk to Bremen in order to become musicians there. In German this is one of the best fairy tales I have ever encountered but this version is not very recommendable.
But probably the story of the Bremen Town Musicians takes place so far away from America that it is not possible to bring across the flair of the city of Bremen in which the story takes place.