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You Can't Kill Snow White
In this dark adaptation of Snow White, acclaimed artist Beatrice Alemagna tells the story from the point of view of the jealous stepmother queen, to complicate the question of goodness and set into high relief the shadow side, with its capacity for evil, of human life.
Once upon a time, a child was born with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony: the princess Snow White. She is possessed of beauty and innocence, but there in the shadows lurks a queen who will remarry her widower father, a queen who is as empty and envious, as narcissistic and fractured as is every life that gets stuck in the endless reflecting pool or mirror of the self. Void of love, it is hatred that animates her. But like all true fairy tales, this story doesn't ask us to judge and condemn the queen and her hatred, but rather to consider the kinds of behaviors and situations that invite evil, and where true innocence or goodness might lie.
Following the first-person account of the queen, this picture book for older readers illuminates her blinding obsession and insatiable jealousy, right up to the point of her violent undoing. Told through a series of riveting, unsettling images as well as a bold adaptation of the Grimm's original text, this version of Snow White brilliantly puts us all in touch with the messy, shadowed, fraught, and fragile inwardness we each possess.
This is the second book to appear under Unruly, an imprint of picture books for older readers, and will include an author's note and a short note to readers about how it continues to build this experimental framework of visually complex, sophisticated picture books for teens and adults.
Written and illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna
Translated from the French by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong
Once upon a time, a child was born with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony: the princess Snow White. She is possessed of beauty and innocence, but there in the shadows lurks a queen who will remarry her widower father, a queen who is as empty and envious, as narcissistic and fractured as is every life that gets stuck in the endless reflecting pool or mirror of the self. Void of love, it is hatred that animates her. But like all true fairy tales, this story doesn't ask us to judge and condemn the queen and her hatred, but rather to consider the kinds of behaviors and situations that invite evil, and where true innocence or goodness might lie.
Following the first-person account of the queen, this picture book for older readers illuminates her blinding obsession and insatiable jealousy, right up to the point of her violent undoing. Told through a series of riveting, unsettling images as well as a bold adaptation of the Grimm's original text, this version of Snow White brilliantly puts us all in touch with the messy, shadowed, fraught, and fragile inwardness we each possess.
This is the second book to appear under Unruly, an imprint of picture books for older readers, and will include an author's note and a short note to readers about how it continues to build this experimental framework of visually complex, sophisticated picture books for teens and adults.
Written and illustrated by Beatrice Alemagna
Translated from the French by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2021
About the author
Beatrice Alemagna
77 books168 followersBeatrice Alemagna was born in Bologna, Italy in 1973. She graduated from the Istituto Superiore for industrial arts in Urbino, Italy. She has won numerous international awards for her illustration. She now lives in Paris, France, where she works as an author and illustrator as well as a designer of childrens books, posters and collages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 3, 2023
This is the second book from Unruly, an Enchanted Lion imprint publishing "picture books that are innovative in form and narrative structure for older readers and adults." I love this idea so much (I have a whole shelf called "picture book discussion group" with older readers in mind), but I think it will struggle to find an audience, as the first one has.
It's an oversize book on heavy paper, which showcases Beatrice Alemagna's moody paintings (with pops of neon pink). Her retelling is from the POV of the jealous queen, and the storyline is true to the original Grimm rather than the Disney-fied one. Translated from French.
"My heart is a ball of dirt."
It's an oversize book on heavy paper, which showcases Beatrice Alemagna's moody paintings (with pops of neon pink). Her retelling is from the POV of the jealous queen, and the storyline is true to the original Grimm rather than the Disney-fied one. Translated from French.
"My heart is a ball of dirt."
March 30, 2023
I can get behind a Grimm style retelling of Snow White told from the perspective of the Evil Queen. That very short narration is the only good part of this. I was not a fan of the art at all in this except for the spot when the Queen eats the boars liver and lungs. That was the only scene where the art style worked for me. Also, in this version of the story Snow White is dumber than a bag of hammers. I wish the character wasn't a complete nincompoop, but I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else if the Queen is the narrator. As per the original story, the Prince is pretty dang creepy.
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January 12, 2023
This was released by a new imprint that publishes picture books for young adults and adults. A retelling of Snow White that stays true to the dark tone of the original Grimm's tale, accompanied by equally dark European folk art inspired illustrations.
May 7, 2023
The illustrations were resplendent, especially with the neon reds & pinks. I found the format a bit awkward, between how the illustrations fell across pages and the font, which I found hard to read.
June 8, 2024
This is one of a handful of "picture books" for adults and teens. Beautiful. Not sure where I would put it in my library, but would be cool to create a program around these unique books.
Want to read
December 30, 2022Unruly - picture books for adults and teens, that publishes this creative adaptation, has a Kickstarter project going through 12/31. If you would like to see more picture books for adults and teens then please pledge to this project:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/enchante...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/enchante...
December 7, 2022
Step outside the box and into a Grimm Brother's tale like you've never seen before. You won't be able to shake this perspective and the visual nightmare that unfolds alongside this story.
A truly exceptional book that is truly NOT for everyone. High marks for merit, terror, and love of the lore.
A gem for your 398s.
A truly exceptional book that is truly NOT for everyone. High marks for merit, terror, and love of the lore.
A gem for your 398s.
January 29, 2023
2.5, this isn’t so much an adaptation of Snow White as just a retelling of the Brothers Grimm version with just a touch more motivation given to the evil queen. I liked the small looks into the queen’s character but wanted a lot more than I got. The illustrations aren’t completely to my taste but I still appreciate them and quite liked the sequences where to queen eats the boar heart and dances in the burning shoes.
September 24, 2022
Molt xulo que la veu narradora sigui de la malvada Madrastra, amb tots els seus mal rotllos. També m'ha agradat que vingui primer el text i després les il•lustracions del que s'ha relatat. L'he gaudit tot i la foscor
February 3, 2022
piękna i straszna
September 22, 2024
You Can't Kill Snow White features beautiful illustrations that would be in good company in any fairy tale collection, and which makes you think hard.
Loved the imprint, which Unruly, an imprint from Enchanted Lion books, which publishes stunning picture books for children. Enchanted Lion's website says, "As an independent publisher of uncompromising books for children, Enchanted Lion Books has been pushing the boundaries of the picture book for the past 20 years." Unruly is focused on picture books for older readers: specifically, for adults and teenagers.
The Unruly site notes that "The picture books we are proposing under Unruly will be adult-centered, which means that they will offer complex visual and written narratives that put their lens onto the intrinsic beauty and mystery of the world, but also onto the monstrousness, the strangeness, and the weirdness inherent in all that is. These books will explore all manner of insight and experience, temptation, anxiety, and dilemma that is of pressing interest to us as adults."
And why picture books? "There is a very real difference between showing and telling, and our assertion is that we need pictures across our lives. Today rather than living richly with images, we seem to do everything we can to drown out the showing forth of things through excessive telling. We are submerged in explanations as opposed to revelations.
The importance of narrative picture books for adults lies in the fact that there are things we apprehend that we cannot comprehend, and that what art shows forth is a wild excess of meaning. It is pictures that present us with what is not reducible to a single meaning or understanding, pictures that put us face-to-face with mystery."
All this to say that You Can't Kill Snow White is a little darker than most childrens' books (I found it in the adult section of the library) and fits the description above to a "t".
Loved the imprint, which Unruly, an imprint from Enchanted Lion books, which publishes stunning picture books for children. Enchanted Lion's website says, "As an independent publisher of uncompromising books for children, Enchanted Lion Books has been pushing the boundaries of the picture book for the past 20 years." Unruly is focused on picture books for older readers: specifically, for adults and teenagers.
The Unruly site notes that "The picture books we are proposing under Unruly will be adult-centered, which means that they will offer complex visual and written narratives that put their lens onto the intrinsic beauty and mystery of the world, but also onto the monstrousness, the strangeness, and the weirdness inherent in all that is. These books will explore all manner of insight and experience, temptation, anxiety, and dilemma that is of pressing interest to us as adults."
And why picture books? "There is a very real difference between showing and telling, and our assertion is that we need pictures across our lives. Today rather than living richly with images, we seem to do everything we can to drown out the showing forth of things through excessive telling. We are submerged in explanations as opposed to revelations.
The importance of narrative picture books for adults lies in the fact that there are things we apprehend that we cannot comprehend, and that what art shows forth is a wild excess of meaning. It is pictures that present us with what is not reducible to a single meaning or understanding, pictures that put us face-to-face with mystery."
All this to say that You Can't Kill Snow White is a little darker than most childrens' books (I found it in the adult section of the library) and fits the description above to a "t".
April 10, 2023
This is an illustrated book for adults. Love this concept, will look for more. Translated from the original French.
The story was similar to the story I know. This version is told by the jealous queen.
The 3 things that are different are -
1. the Queen eats the heart and liver of the boar thinking it was Snow Whites.
2. Snow White isn't awakened by true loves kiss, but by her translucent coffin case being jostled by a worker following the Prince. This dislodged the piece of poison Apple from her throat, which falls out. She then wakes up and sits up, the Prince asks her to marry him and she says yes.
3. The Queen is invited to the wedding and goes. When she arrives, she is seized and forced into burning 🔥 hot iron shoes, which then apparently ignite her body and she burns to death. I'm guessing that the Dwarves didn't have it in them nor did they have the means to kill the queen before this.
The art was horrible, hence 3 stars. Very crudely drawn with no skill. Also, besides the Queen repeating that she wants to be the most beautiful female in the world, the story doesn't go into anything else about the Queen. I guess she represents pure jealousy.
The story was similar to the story I know. This version is told by the jealous queen.
The 3 things that are different are -
1. the Queen eats the heart and liver of the boar thinking it was Snow Whites.
2. Snow White isn't awakened by true loves kiss, but by her translucent coffin case being jostled by a worker following the Prince. This dislodged the piece of poison Apple from her throat, which falls out. She then wakes up and sits up, the Prince asks her to marry him and she says yes.
3. The Queen is invited to the wedding and goes. When she arrives, she is seized and forced into burning 🔥 hot iron shoes, which then apparently ignite her body and she burns to death. I'm guessing that the Dwarves didn't have it in them nor did they have the means to kill the queen before this.
The art was horrible, hence 3 stars. Very crudely drawn with no skill. Also, besides the Queen repeating that she wants to be the most beautiful female in the world, the story doesn't go into anything else about the Queen. I guess she represents pure jealousy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2024
You Can't Kill Snow White is a lushly painted reimagining of the Grimm Brother's classic fairy tale in the vein of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples."
"To side with the darkness as a way to understand the madness," this story shifts the POV and puts you in the mind of The Evil Queen. Lurching slug-like across entire pages, resplendent in her malefic jealousy, her vicious paranoia pervades not only the narrative but the book as an object.
Thanks to unique Swiss binding, it appears almost as if the spine is broken! By the time you realize it's borderline unbreakable, shock has set in, establishing just the tense atmosphere to leave you vulnerable to the queen's machinations.
"To side with the darkness as a way to understand the madness," this story shifts the POV and puts you in the mind of The Evil Queen. Lurching slug-like across entire pages, resplendent in her malefic jealousy, her vicious paranoia pervades not only the narrative but the book as an object.
Thanks to unique Swiss binding, it appears almost as if the spine is broken! By the time you realize it's borderline unbreakable, shock has set in, establishing just the tense atmosphere to leave you vulnerable to the queen's machinations.
May 7, 2023
I love Beatrice Alemagna books and her illustration technique as well, yet here I had some trouble deciphering her paintings. While two or three spreads were brilliant (especially the queen eating livers etc) they were vast and abstract and didn't benefit from the gutter in the book--better to see them in an exhibition, I think. I thought that the Queen's perspective was interesting especially at the end and definitely made it an adult picture book which is what this new imprint produces, but could have been developed more.
April 25, 2023
An entrancing and effervescent retelling of Snow White's queen. Taking inspiration from the original Grimm fairy tale, Alegmana illustrates this beloved story in a nearly abstract way. With earth tones and a splash of hot pink, she toys with size, time, and perspective, all of which makes this somehow rooted in something real and surreal simultaneously.
This is something I could look over for hours.
This is something I could look over for hours.
June 4, 2023
I was hoping for a new story from the point of view of the wicked stepmother. It's the nonDisney version from the Brother's Grimm, and it's harsh and violent, but not new. I really hate to say bad things about anyone's artwork, but unless a very young child did it, it's pretty awful. Just not my thing.
January 12, 2023
Alemagna's illustrations are at once ugly and striking. I can't decide if I like them or not, but they are definitely unique.
This is a retelling of Snow White from the Queen's POV. It ends in the traditional, morbid and dark Grimm way. A picture book fairy tale for the older crowd
This is a retelling of Snow White from the Queen's POV. It ends in the traditional, morbid and dark Grimm way. A picture book fairy tale for the older crowd
December 11, 2022
The artwork is gorgeous
December 28, 2022
Snow White is kinda dumb in this one.
February 5, 2023
Haunting and beautiful illustrations, gruesome and rich in their colour and emotions. Loved it!
February 15, 2023
I get the premise of adult children's books, but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. The story ends too quickly and the art just isn't my style.
February 23, 2023
Each page is a surprise to me. I love the art of this book.
February 24, 2023
Chilling. Told from the Evil Queen’s POV. But why is Snow White still so flat? We can have two nuanced female characters, surely.
March 17, 2023
Alemagna is a genius, to put it mildly.
March 18, 2023
Gorgeous illustration!
March 29, 2023
Love the idea of picture books for older readers and adults. Also love the Unruly logo.
As for the book, the pictures were interesting and the text was good, but the layout didn’t work for me.
As for the book, the pictures were interesting and the text was good, but the layout didn’t work for me.
June 12, 2023
A rather traditional telling of Snow White, although from the Evil Queen as the narrator. However, the illustrations and overall set up of the book don't really help the story along very much.
June 28, 2023
A proposta é interessante, mas a explicação do prefácio matou um pouco a história pra mim, achei desnecessária.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews