A Tale of Two Brothers - Eveline Hasler - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Eveline Hasler
ILLUSTRATOR: Käthi Bhend
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: May 3, 2022
RATING: 4.5 stars


A lovely fable that delivers exactly what it promises. Originally written in Swiss and published in 2006, this edition is the English translation.

This goes pretty much like good old parables did. Two brothers, one good and one bad, live in a remote place. When the good brother sets out to do a task and is kind to forest creatures on his way, they return the favour by gifting him something special. The bad brother ventures on the same journey, but because of his attitude, he ends up with only a lesson learnt.

This is not a level one picture book. The text content takes up about a quarter of the page (in small font) and the rest of the page contains the illustration. There are a few words that might be difficult for beginner readers. However, if this is to be chosen as a read-aloud, it would be a wonderful choice. The language in the book is beautiful and creates such a nice imagery of the forest and its denizens.

The illustrations in my copy were alternately B&W and coloured, quite possibly because it was an ARC. But I still enjoyed the beauty of them. They reminded me of my childhood storybooks, what with their intricate detailing, especially of the forest creatures. The sketches match the content and the mood of the story beautifully.

Heartily recommended.

My thanks to North South Books Inc. and NetGalley for the DRC of “A Tale of Two Brothers”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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