With lively rhymes & illustrations, a book about a spirited group of children who act out their version of the ancient folk play St. George and the Dragon and go “reveling” house-to-house. A glimpse of the pre-TV era when entertainment was homemade. Can be read as a story and/or acted out simply, with tips included.
“A spirited picture book based loosely on a medieval mummer’s play . .
.[full of] charm.” School Library Journal
``Hold, friends, hold!/We are very cold./Inside and outside,/we are very
cold./Something to warm us,/if we may./For that, kind folks,/we'll give
you a play.'' So starts this marvelous adaptation of the revel known as
the Oxfordshire St. George play. The play is a simple one about the subduing
of a dragon. What is so compelling here is the vibrancy brought to the
revel. Alley's illustrations throng with activity and color, testaments
to the pleasures of mock seriousness. The revel--house-to- house evening
entertainments enacted during the winter holidays- -is an institution that
never should have faded away. But television and radio, not to mention
the dangers of the modern night, stole its thunder. With Arthurian urgency
and bright festivity, this book may launch a second wave for those roving
nighttime theatricals." Kirkus
"Alley's pen-and-ink drawings with bright watercolors capture the enthusiasm
of the players as well as the audience through small touches in the illustrations.
In adapting the rhyming text from the Oxfordshire St. George play, the
Schotters honor the ancient custom of revels and encourage young readers
to perform this revel for their own families and neighbors." Booklist
ABA Pick of the Lists
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