Rylant/Tenggren Snow White Picture Book

In 2009, the year that the Snow White Blu-ray was released, Disney Editions published a book adaptation of the story by well-known children's author Cynthia Rylant. At first read, I wasn't sure I cared for her interpretation. It was of course the Disney version of Grimm's classic tale, but it felt off for some reason. Time passed, however, and the story started to grow on me. In fact, I quite like it now and was actually able to figure out what it was that struck me so oddly in the beginning.

Rylant is the author of over 100 books for children. She knows what she's doing. Instead of simply retelling the same standard story that so many other books have done since the 1937 release of the film, she wrote it as if it was the first time you were hearing the tale. It's still Disney's Snow White but in a language and style of the very best of children's picture books--a feel that matches the vintage illustrations just perfectly.

Accompanying the text is original concept art by Gustaf Tenggren. Eighteen different images! Unfortunately, the budget for producing this book was most likely not what it should have been. As a result, the picture reproduction frankly leaves something to be desired. A soft unfocused feel detracts from several of the images. Nonetheless, it's still worth the relatively low price to see so many of Tenggren's Snow White drawings housed under one cover.

 

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Of all the different and varied depictions of Snow White that were produced during the making of the film (and since), Gustaf's is the one set apart from the rest. In the classic Tenggren style, she exudes a certain Old World charm and fairytale innocence not quite seen in the drawings of the other artists. She also tends to appear younger.

His dwarfs are by far the most distinctive of any of his characterizations.

Tenggren's Queen is not someone to be trifled with and that goes double for the Old Witch.

The book is still available for purchase new or from any number of online resellers. Original retail price was $16.00 (USD), but it can be nabbed for substantially less nowadays. ISBN: 9781423118619.

See a few more Tenggren images from this book as they were shown in an earlier post in comparison to a set of vintage postcards.