The Red Shoes and Other Tales

by Metaphrog

Overview

As the child of peasants, Karen grew up with a pair of simple red shoes. Then, when her parents died, Karen was adopted by a rich old woman who gave Karen a new pair of red shoes that would make princesses green with envy. This newfound wealth causes Karen to forget her humble origins and grow up to become a cruel and vain adult. Then, one day, the red shoes that sparked her greed come to life and steer Karen down a path she never would have imagined in her wildest dreams.

This volume also includes Metaphrog's adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic, "The Little Match Girl" and a tale of their own invention, "The Glass Case".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629912837
Publisher:	Papercutz
Publication date:	10/13/2015
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Metaphrog are John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs. Together they have been creating graphic novels since 1996. Their Louis series has received several Eisner and Ignatz Award nominations and critical acclaim worldwide. John is from Scotland, and Sandra grew up in France, before moving to Britain. Their meeting was a catalyst, and within a few months they created Metaphrog. They regularly travel to give talks and workshops on comics and their working methods. They have also produced commissioned graphic novels and illustrations for a variety of clients. Last year, they were named as one of Canongate's Future 40 best contemporary Scottish Storytellers. Follow them on Twitter @metaphrog and visit www.metaphrog.com.

Editorial Reviews

07/13/2015
In this comics collection, Metaphrog (a pseudonym for Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers) presents an early 20th-century update of Hans Christian Andersen’s story about a girl transfixed by a pair of enchanted red shoes, pairing it with an original tale and a version of “The Little Match Girl.” As the shoes take hold of Karen’s mind and body, the tale’s menacing plot is amplified through the use of a sickening gray-green hue that contrasts unsettlingly with the gleam of the red shoes and Karen’s doll-like features. In the brief second story, “The Glass Case,” a lonely, abused boy befriends an antique doll at a museum—eventually joining her in her display case; “The Little Match Girl” concludes on a characteristically sobering note. Hope, joy, and pain intermingle in these dark, alluring stories, which may leave readers thinking of Andersen as a precursor to modern horror. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Three timeless stories receive visually beautiful and cogent treatment in this comics collection.

Booklist

The Red Shoes has been a classic cautionary tale of desires and responsibilities for generations, and here it is interpreted wonderfully, a mixture of pathos and delight, magical wonder and dark undercurrents...

Forbidden Planet Blog

Dark, mysterious, completely entrancing and easily the best adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale that we've ever seen.

Read It Daddy!

The Red Shoes And Other Tales is a beautiful book by Metaphrog telling three bittersweet stories that really are suitable for all ages.

DownTheTubes.net

05/01/2015
Gr 3–5—This graphic novel anthology consists of two Hans Christian Andersen tales and one original story. In "The Red Shoes," Karen, a poor girl who loves to dance, is taken in by her wealthier great aunt after her mother passes away. She buys Karen a beautiful pair of red shoes from a shopkeeper with a demonlike appearance. On their way home, Karen and her mother pass another evil-looking man, a shoe shiner who tells Karen she must dance in her shoes. From then on, all Karen can do is dance. Karen is very doll-like in her appearance, with pursed ruby lips and unblinking eyes. She looks beautiful in the dance scene but otherwise lacks emotion. The ending, where the executioner chops off her feet, may be shocking to younger readers. "The Little Match Girl," nicely colored in sepia tone, is a tragic tale of a girl too afraid to go home after she is unable to sell her matches. As she lies dying on the snowy street, she is comforted by the visions she sees when she strikes her matches. This is the most emotionally drawn tale. "The Glass Boy," an original story about a boy who runs away to be with a living doll in a museum—and then turns into one—reads more like a Twilight Zone episode than a folktale. VERDICT While the tales are nicely adapted, there is nothing special here, making this collection most appropriate for libraries with a high demand for folktales in nontraditional formats.—Marissa Lieberman, East Orange Public Library, NJ

School Library Journal

2015-07-15
In this slim anthology, two of Hans Christian Andersen's timeless tales are visually reimagined and presented along with one original offering. Hailing from France and Scotland, respectively, Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, collectively known as Metaphrog, have envisioned three dark fairy tales to make this slender collection. The first tale, Andersen's "The Red Shoes," is rendered in a muted palette dominated by washed-out blues and punctuated by splashes of rust-colored red. It recounts the familiar tale of a young girl obsessed with a pair of scarlet shoes that causes her to dance without end, until she must cut off her own feet to quell their perpetual motion (depicted graphically but bloodlessly). The second, "The Glass Case," is an original, sepia-toned tale of a young boy who's beaten and unloved at home and who befriends a doll at a museum, eventually running away to be with her. The final piece is the well-known "The Little Match Girl," which uses austere, glacial grays to tell the story of a young girl fruitlessly trying to sell matches on a cold, bleak winter night. Similar panel sizes and layouts and a homogeneous tone throughout create a smartly cohesive and atmospheric collection, each vignette made distinctive by a carefully selected color scheme. This is a must-read for fans of Emily Carroll's Through the Woods (2014). A darkly pensive read, perfect for chilly fall evenings. (Graphic fairy tales. 8-13)

Kirkus Reviews