Tattercoats

by Joseph Jacobs (Collected, Editor), Margot Tomes (Illustrator)

Lonely and neglected, Tattercoats lives with her grandfather, a rich old lord, in a palace by the sea. Her grandfather ignores her because her mother, his favorite daughter, had died at her birth. Will Tattercoats find a way to attend the king's ball if her grandfather refuses to take her? Full color.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Cinderella

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 1989

About the author

Joseph Jacobs was an Australian folklorist, literary critic, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English Folklore. His work went on to popularize some of the worlds best known versions of English fairy tales including "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Goldilocks and the three bears", "The Three Little Pigs", "Jack the Giant Killer" and "The History of Tom Thumb". He published his English fairy tale collections: English Fairy Tales in 1890 and More English Fairytales in 1894 but also went on after and in between both books to publish fairy tales collected from continental Europe as well as Jewish, Celtic and Indian Fairytales which made him one of the most popular writers of fairytales for the English language. Jacobs was also an editor for journals and books on the subject of folklore which included editing the Fables of Bidpai and the Fables of Aesop, as well as articles on the migration of Jewish folklore. He also edited editions of "The Thousand and One Nights". He went on to join The Folklore Society in England and became an editor of the society journal Folklore. Joseph Jacobs also contributed to the Jewish Encyclopedia.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_J...

Reviews

[Vaishali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this again after a few years, and interestingly did not instill the same magic as it had then. True love rewarded to the good and true, and hatred met with loneliness and a family lost. The old man ensnarled by his hair (heir?) is, at least in English, brilliantly metaphorical.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

My own personal favorite fairy tale -- except perhaps for Kate Crackernuts.

A persecuted heroine, like Cinderella, in a very unusual variants. I particularly like the prince, striking not only among Cinderella tales but any fairy tale at all.

Illustrations for this version barely adequate

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tattercoats by Joseph Jacobs, (collected editor) Illustrator Margot Tomes- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- The book narrates the story of a young girl who lives in a palace on the coast of the sea. Her grandfather is a rich Lord whose wife and children have expired. The girl’s mother is daughter of the rich old Lord. The incident is that after her birth, the nurse brought the girl before the old Lord. As the Lord’s daughter and the girl’s mother had died during child birth, her grandfather ordered that he would not like to see the face of this girl. He remained in grief. The girl’s is fed by a maid servant. The maid provides her old worn clothes to wear. Thus the girl is always in tatters. The servants bully her for being so skinny and she is asked by her grandfather “to go back to the kitchen”. A shepherd owned ducks liked her. He played songs on his flute. The girl and the ducks danced on his tunes. The King announces Dance Ball and dinner for his Lords. The girl wishes to join. The maid servant requests the Old Lord to allow the girl to accompany him to the capital but the old Lord does not permit her to accompany him. The girl is distressed. She goes out and finds shepherd. On hearing about the Dance and Dinner invitation, Shepherd says that he will take her with him to the Capital. They start their journey. On the way, they meet the Prince moving on a horse. The Prince stops before them. He is impressed by the beauty of the girl. Shepherd plays a tune on the flute, the Prince and the girl dance. The Prince proposes marriage. The girl refuses the proposal on the ground that she is a commoner and poor. After hearing the flute music and dance with the girl, the Prince requests them to come to the palace and attend the dance. Shepherd, ducks and the girl reach the Palace and King William views them. Prince rises from his seat and prepares for dance. Shepherd plays the tune of song of birds in which all are lost. The girl turns in to a beautiful lady, the ducks turn in to beautiful participants in marriage procession. Prince marries the tatter girl. Message from the book is Music and luck. I have read Hindi language translation of this book. Coloured illustrations help the reader to relate to the story.

[Chrissy Brodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is absolutely shocking, just read it to my 3 girls - not only does the grandfather starve her (he obviously has PNSD) and dress her in rags, all the servants bully her for being so skinny and she is shamed by her grandfather ‘go back to the kitchen’. She has 1 friend who she ditches in a heart beat - the only person that’s been kind to her, her whole life - ditches him for the prince who she talks to and after 1 conversation they are in love. Once married no apologies from the whole kingdom for being so horrible but all is forgiven and grandfather is playing happy families. Most ridiculous kids book I’ve ever read.

[Samantha Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a rather classic style, but it is very similar to tales I've already heard/read. Perhaps because I am familiar with tales of Cinderella, this story (although different in a few aspects) did not strike me with much excitement. The illustrations focus on a brown palette, and are mostly double-page spreads with text boxes embedded for the words. The story is interesting, but does not take any unusual twists. I definitely think that it would take an excellent reader with much enthusiasm to engage an audience in this story, especially if the audience has any experience with a story like Tattercoats.

[CinderBlitzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. This is a sad & poniant version, with the most tragic of all the Cindergirl titular characters, least amount of magic, and a prince who loves her while she is still in rags. The illustrations are great and so is the word smithing.