Randall Jarrell Books

This is a beautiful, timeless story, told in gorgeous prose, and charmingly decorated. I'm not the sort of person who gushes over books, but this one is true literary perfection, and not just for children. It's the kind of book that, no matter how old you are when you first read it, will stay with you for the rest of your life.

I read this as a child. It got stuck in my mind, but I could never remember the title, thinking of it only as the story of the Hunter and the Mermaid. I searched for it for years.

This is a beautiful story, one of my favorites for children.

This story by Jarrell is gentle, mythical, and stands the test of time. A short story about a solitary hunter on an island, who meets a mermaid, and together form a family with animals they meet. The tone is warm and soft, kind and at times bittersweet.

While perfect for bedtime, cold or rainy days, this book is appealing to me even as i grow older. The subtle lessons about companionship, newness, differences, loneliness, loss, and joy are not forced to the fore. Rather, an old-fashioned sense of creating an environment as a way to tell a story is key here. Inviting wilderness, homely relationships, and just enough magic and mystery to compel the story forward.

One of my most treasured books since i was a young child, the is a timeless and infinitely re-readable story.

Randall Jarrell (1914-65) is better known as a poet, although probably best known today for his poetry criticism. He also wrote a few children's book, most notably The Bat-Poet and The Animal Family, the later published the same year he died and winning the 1966 Newbery Honor. It is wonderfully illustrated by Maurice Sendak - of Where the Wild Things Are fame - in beautiful pen and ink drawings.

The story is a sort of fable along the lines of Hans Christian Andersen or Lewis Carroll, but updated with a 1960s message. It is about a lonely hunter who lives in a cabin by the sea who with time comes to gather around him a "family" of very different creatures, first a mermaid, and then a bear, lynx, and human boy. Each is an orphan whose parents have either died or somehow left the scene. They all are very different animals yet find comfort and eventually identity with one another. It is a story in the spirit of the Age of Aquarius, when songs such as Free to Be You and Me and Free to Be a Family resonated during a cultural revolution in which boundaries of class, race and, in this case, even species were being explored, when everyone was a "brother" and "sister".

My reading of the story in its 1960s context is only one interpretation, this is not a heavy handed preachy book by any measure, it is timeless in its message about toleration of differences, the power of love to overcome anything (including for a mermaid to live on land, in effect brining a happy ending to Hans Andersen's otherwise brutal The Little Mermaid), and in particular for those who seek out love and find it in the most un-expected places. It is a short book, easy to read, and poetically written. Over the past 40 years it has found a place close to the heart of many children and adults, I only wish I had discovered it sooner.

Every once in a while, an author manages to pull off a novel that carries with it the exact tone and magical feeling of a fairy tale. In the genre of The Last Unicorn and The Princess Bride, this beautiful story takes you into a peaceful world where a lonely hunter lives by the sea.
The story follows the hunter's efforts to make a family for himself, and to keep that family safe. I don't want to spoil any of the plot points, but I will say that this gentle fable is going to fill each reader with joy and contentment. The tale is universal, and is just perfect for a shared experience at bedtime.
The decorations by Maurice Sendak are also quite lovely, giving us detailed sketches of the landscapes that the hunter and his family occupy.

Just because this is children's literature dosen't mean it is just for children. If you have an appreciation of literature or even if your not a big reader, this story will warm you heart with its wonderful characters, lovely story and beautiful writing. So simply written, it can be read to children, so beautiful the writing people older than 8 will defenitely will enjoy!! Randall Jarell is in my opinion, one of the kings of children's literature!

Randall Jarrell has given us a beautiful little story here of a bat and Maurice Sendak has given us some wonderful illustrations in the form of black and white drawings. There is not much to not like about this work. The children love it, and the adult reading it to the children will find it just as interesting and hypnotic as the child, if not more so, but on a different level. The text is wonderfully simple and a pure joy to read. I recommened this one highly.

We had a "bat book drive" in my daughter's class because they needed more research material about bats for a project they are doing than we could find in the local library. Instead of only purchasing scientific-sounding non-fiction, I was also looking for story and poetry books in which the charateristics and habits of bats were woven throughout the stories and poems. I read this book to my eight-year-old daughter the night before we took it to class. She demanded that I give her the book so that she could read it again herself. And, with stars in her eyes, stated that the poem at the end about a bats life was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, and that she would be memorizing it. It was amazing how much she had learned and remembered about bats after the first time through the book. Lovely illustrations as well.

A beautiful story, beautifully written, about a little bat who composes poetry. One of the best children's books I've ever read; I order several copies at a time and give them for birthday presents.

This book is a gem. It's tender, clever, and deftly written. It's wonderful for reading aloud. I had trouble finding it for years, and I'm so pleased to see that it's available again.

If I had any one visual image deep in my brain when I began to write Take Me With You When You Go, it was Sendak's illustration in this collection of Hansel and Gretel lost in the woods, which I'd read and seen many years before. No one has illustrated fairy tales more richly than Sendak, and the collection he chose to combine is good, and Lore Segal's telling is fine. This is one of the best entry points for children into real fairy tales, as opposed to Disney. My own book attempts to bridge beyond Grimm and the older fairy tale tradition, but at the heart there's still the closely bonded Brother and Sister growing strong together on their own....Good grief! I just noticed that another one of the stories in the collection is actually titled "Brother and Sister." I'd totally forgotten.

You won't find any pixy dust in this adaptation of German fairy tales. Delving into the strange and bizarre, these stories aren't the kind you want to be reading your 4 year old before they go to bed at night. Simplistic in writing, engaging in content, entertaining in substance, these are great short stories for someone who enjoys the abnormal, the peculiar, and the extraordinary.

As a child I found this book at a garage sale. It instantly became one of my most treasured books - that was over 20 years ago. It has some of the most interesting Fairy Tales, many have a slightly "different twist" than your typical tales (some outright silly while others dark and bit disturbing). Most of the stories are 3 to 5 pages long and are very quick reading, and the sketched illustrations are beautifully detailed. Excellent stories for children and adults alike. With my current copy falling apart - I was happy to see the book has been re-issued!

My mom & step dad bought me this while on their honeymoon in Carmel in 1978 (I was 8 at the time). I loved it so much that it must be handled with care these days. Grimms fairy tales aren't necessarily for everyone. Several are very dark, but I truly enjoyed them. And who can beat Maurice Sendak as an illustrator???

After hearing Sendak speak of the tragic fate that has befallen the fairy tale, I immediately went online in search of the Juniper Tree collection, a seventies-era translation of Grimm's fairy tales that professed to be true to the originals.

According to Sendak, modern adaptations of fairy tales lack the vigor and violence of the originals, which themselves were adaptation of the spoken-word. Call it Disney-fication, but new translations seemed to candy-coat old tales into generic rubbish. Sendak said that he took on this commission in order to rejuvenate the fairy-tale genre. And I can only find success in the venture. The new translation adds spice to fairy tales that I have heard countless times, in addition to adding many more obscure fairy tales to a reader's collection. And Sendak's beautiful black and white illustrations certainly don't hurt the package. His characteristic drawings add life and excitement to the written word.

Definitely get this copy instead of any cheesy new version of a fairy tale. It's not as violent/different from normal fairy tale editions as I expected, but the change is significant enought to have warranted this translation. And sure, there isn't a Sendak illustration on every page, but kids need something to look forward to in a book, don't they?

Although it's told mostly in prose, this lovely little tale by Randall Jarrell, more of a vignette or meditation than a story, is poetry of the purest sort. The tone is dreamlike, and the wonderous illustrations by Maurice Sendak only enhance that tone. The world of dreams is described in crisp, precise images that evoke several of the senses at once, and the timeless quality of dreams is perfectly depicted. While it's marketed as a children's book, and certainly will be treasured by all sensitive children, it's equally enchanting for any discerning adult. Highly recommended!

This book was so scary and spooky. I couldn't guess what was going happen next. You must read it. You'll want to put it down but you won't be able to.

At night, David can fly at daytime he can't. He thinks it fun until he realizes it is dangerous.

This sweet and gentle book follows a young boy through one night of dreams. You see, in his dreams he can fly...! It is a simple tale, but fanciful and comforting. I bought a copy for a friend with children. She said that they complained when she started reading it to them because it is small, not brightly colored, and Maurice Sendak's artwork is fairly sophisticated in pen and ink. But when she insisted that they stop half way through... such pleading to continue! May you, too, have such troubles.

While this collection might appear gimmicky to some, a quick persusal of the table of contents will show that many respected poets have used fairy tale motifs in their work. Beaumont and Carlson have gathered numerous poems from a wide range of poets that reflect the enduring themes and characters we inherited through the work of the Brothers Grimm. The usual suspects, such as Anne Sexton, are here but so are some lesser known poets. The anthology is strong and represents many well-known fairy tales along with a few that are lesser known by the general public. The book is recommended for libraries and classrooms in which poetry and/or fairy tales are taught. It also makes great armchair reading for anyone interested in new interpretations of familiar stories.

THE POETS GRIMM is an essential addition to the collection of anyone who grew up with fairy tales - that is, everyone in America who ever opened a storybook that began "Once upon a time. . ." or watched a Disney movie that opened with a princess tortured by her evil stepmother. Here are the stories from the Grimm brothers collections that terrified and delighted us as children, now revisited with adult distance, wisdom, and humor. Ably edited by Jeanne Marie Beaumont and Claudia Carlson, THE POETS GRIMM embraces the breadth of poetry in English in the 20th century, from our most recent poet laureate, Louise Glück, to writers like Terri Windling and Jane Yolen, best known for their work in contemporary fantasy and science fiction. Anne Sexton's important poem, "Twelve Dancing Princesses," from her groundbreaking collection TRANSFORMATIONS, is included, as is an intensely moving poem by Amy Lowell from 1912, which strikes a surprisingly contemporary note.

A deep sympathy for the much maligned usual suspects, wolves and witches, underlies the entire volume, and frankly, if I were Prince Charming, I'd have a call in to my lawyer about a possible libel suit. Perhaps most American of all the Grimm interpretations found here is Tim Siebles' "What Bugs Bunny said to Red Riding Hood," which alone is worth the price of the entire collection.

Reading the poems in this collection bathes the old tales in a new and revelatory light; most telling of all perhaps are the poems which offer new versions of the detailed and mysterious marching orders given to every fairy tale hero or heroine who set off, willingly or not, on a quest. Neil Gaiman's "Instructions," in this vein, makes wonderful new sense of these ever-puzzling rules. Through these poems we see our own childhoods recast, and the clamor of impossibly conflicting childhood directives we all received invoked and examined.

The Poets Grimm offers a wonderful snapshot of poetry of the last half of the last century, taken through an enchanted lens, and I highly recommend it to anyone who ever felt a little cheated by the words, "And they lived happily ever after."

I can't believe that no one has reviewed this book! What a cute story that is thoroughly engaging for little ones and fun to read out loud as well. The witty storytelling is suburb with just the right amount of suspense and great twists. The narrator even addresses the audience, which definitely adds to the appeal and lends an oral storytelling feel to the experience. It is also noteworthy that there is a happily-ever-after ending for everyone -- no violence in store for the gingerbread bunny! :) The black and white illustrations are adorable as well. My girls 4 and 6 really loved the book and I'm sure we'll be reading it again soon. Extend the fun by baking gingerbread rabbits and recreating the surprise that the mother made for her daughter! It is too bad that a classic like this is apparently overlooked! I will definitely be adding more of Randall Jarrell's books to our collection!

jarrell shows everything that is wrong with criticism today. the intelligence, wit, good writing, and fearlessness that is found in his criticism is missed in the critics of today. jarrell writes on everything, poetry, prose, art, music, and even cars. and he does it well.

i've only seen one other critic with this skill, and i believe he has a collection of his essays/reviews coming out soon: R.S. Gwynn

Elegantly meant and beautifully worded, Thomas Travisano's book evinces his love for the poems of this quartet of poets. He does something that's rare, perhaps too rare, in modern literary scholarship--he considers the aesthetics and poetics inherent in the poets' work with a respect usually reserved for 'thematics.' His scholarship is a marvel of idea and invention, the tone modest yet full of authority. Dr. Travisano is the perfect model for younger scholars in his stance toward his subject, reminding readers of the poets' greatness- the qualities of expression and in their complex relationships with their friends-without the self regard that so often taints scholarly work. The four authors are alive in Travisano's prose; they couldn't have a better scholar on their side.

this is a superb anthology of stories, poems, fables and more collected by poet/novelist randall jarrell to illuminate the notion of "storytelling as a fundamental human impulse, one that announces itself at the moment, hidden in infancy, that dreams begin..." authors include kafka, chekhov, rilke, robert frost, gogol, elizabeth bowen, brecht, peter taylor, hans christian anderson, the book of jonah, anonymous, the brothers grimm, isaac babel, chuang t'zu, blake, tolstoy, turgenev, dinesen, among others. reading this reaffirms why i love to read, and puts in to relief that narrative timelessness so often missing in contemporary fiction. strange and dreamy, each story swallows you whole. i've read this twice and will return again.

Let's paraphrase Tolstoy and say, Every happy memoir is alike, but every unhappy memoir is unhappy in its own way. And then let's point out that Count Leo was wrong. Happiness has a million gradations of its own--some of them frankly impossible to distinguish from low-grade misery--and is no less instrinsically monotonous than music played in a major key. Proof? This lovely, touching memoir by Mary Jarrell. Widow of the great poet-critic Randall Jarrell, the author never sends down her pathographic bucket in search of darkness, drugs, dementia, or erotic folly. Instead we get the details of a gloriously happy existence: the foods they ate, the music they listened to, they cities they loved, even the sporty haberdashery that Jarrell was addicted to. There's a sweetness here that never cloys, never curdles. And Ms. Jarrell turns out to be an elegant and attentive reader of her husband's poetry, forcing even a curmudgeon like me to take a second look at several poems. Still, this is a book about life, not art--and a memorable testimonal on behalf of boon companionship.