Once There Was: A Picture Book

by Corinne Demas, Gemma Capdevila (Illustrator)

Overview

Corinne Demas’s Once There Was is a simple, modern fable about dreaming of being something else, transformations, and the interconnectedness of all things, featuring whimsical full-color illustrations by Gemma Capdevila.

In this magical, modern fairy tale, a girl dreams she is a princess. A princess dreams she is a horse. A horse dreams she is a tree, a tree a mountain, a mountain a moon, a moon a sea, a sea a girl.

This contemplative story plays on timely themes of aspiration and self-reflection but leaves room for interpretation, giving the book the potential to become a timeless classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951836658
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,101,152
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Corinne Demas is the award-winning author of over 35 books for adults and children, including numerous picture books. Recent books include The Road Towards Home, Once There Was, and Saying Goodbye to Lulu. She is a professor emerita at Mount Holyoke College and the fiction editor ofthe Massachusetts Review and divides her time between western Massachusetts and Cape Cod.

Editorial Reviews

06/05/2023

In this tale that highlights the world’s natural beauty, a girl with light skin and flowing brown locks embarks on a flight of fancy, dreaming a series of interconnected scenarios in Demas’s cumulative-style fairy tale. Each segment of the outing begins with the titular phrase and indicates a progression from the child into the natural world. A girl who resides in a seaside cottage dreams she’s a princess “in a golden gown/ who lived in a castle/ in a misty forest.” The princess then dreams of being a horse, the horse dreams of being a tree, the tree dreams of being a mountain, and eventually a sea dreams that she is a little girl, circling back to the protagonist. Capdevila’s wispy landscapes nail the book’s ethereal mood while capturing awe-inspiring wilderness details including whales, snow-capped mountains, and crisp evergreens. The graceful blend of text and image offers readers a mind-expanding escape. Ages 5–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Spare, descriptive text is accompanied by rich, strikingly detailed watercolorlike illustrations. A magical tale that comes full circle, urging readers to dream big.”—Kirkus Reviews

"The graceful blend of text and image offers readers a mind-expanding escape."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2023-02-08
What do you dream about?

In a cascade of ever more lofty dreams, a tan-skinned girl who lives by the sea dreams of becoming “a princess in a golden gown who lived in a castle in a misty forest.” The girl, now a princess with a tiara, dreams of being “a horse with a flowing mane who lived in a meadow filled with flowers.” The horse in turn dreams of becoming a tree that then dreams of becoming a “great green mountain that rose so high she touched the clouds.” The mountain dreams she is the moon; the moon dreams that she is the sea; and the sea dreams that she is “a little girl who lived in a vine-covered cottage by the sea.” The final illustration returns readers to the original girl, and her sweeping hair blends with images of sea waves, a castle, and a horse, creating an artful summary of her imaginary journey that is now part of her. Spare, descriptive text is accompanied by rich, strikingly detailed watercolorlike illustrations. The simple story sends a message that it’s important to dream and to reach for the stars and the moon—and that someone just might be wishing they were you. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A magical tale that comes full circle, urging readers to dream big. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews