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Beatrice Alemagna has written and illustrated dozens of children’s books, which have received numerous awards all over the world and have been translated into 14 languages. The author-illustrator of two New York Times Best Illustrated books, she has also been nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award seven times and shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award twice. Enchanted Lion has published four of her picture books: The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy; Child of Glass; Telling Stories Wrong; and the forthcoming You Can't Kill Snow White, a picture book for teens and adults, published under Enchanted Lion's Unruly imprint. Born in Bologna, Italy, Alemagna lives and works in Paris, France. Karin Snelson is a Seattle-based book editor, reviewer, writer, and translator, specializing in children’s and young adult literature. She has served on a Newbery Medal selection committee, on an ALA Notable Children’s Books committee, and on a 2022 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominating committee through USBBY. She is the co-translator of the French picture book Jerome by Heart, which won a 2019 Batchelder Honor; At the Drop of a Cat; and You Can't Kill Snow White. Growing up in a French, Chinese American family, Emilie Robert Wong attended school in the French national education system before studying Comparative Literature and Neuroscience at Harvard College. She is an associate editor with Enchanted Lion.
A retelling of 'Snow White' from the queen's perspective, this picture-book for young adults... asks readers to understand and sympathize with the desperation and desire that drive villainy. The layered paintings capture emotions in ways that go beyond what is evoked by the text, making the more violent and dark aspects of the tale hit home. Immediately recognizable while reflecting things beyond our world, this fairy-tale universe... pushes at the bounds of the familiar. The queen's anguish is depicted through close-up images of her stricken face that dare readers to look directly at her. The book's greatest strength lies in its portrayal of the queen's fear and rage and the disproportionate cruelty of her punishment... The art captivates: The beauty depicted in the story is almost sinister, and jewel tones are mixed with sickly greens and blacks. Collage and comic-style sequences enhance and add variety to the illustrations... Visceral and surreal. --Kirkus Reviews [T]he second release under Enchanted Lion's new Unruly imprint, which is devoted to picture books for YA readers, Alemagna's dark, more authentic take on this classic fairy tale is well suited to the audience... There is a crudeness to Alemagna's sweeping watercolors, with thick lines bleeding their muted tones into beguiling scenes punctuated by strokes of hot pink or white... It's a visceral reading experience that those with a penchant for fairy tales' darker sides will revel in. --Booklist The Queen's narrative perspective spurs an exploration of the pain and desperation brought on by her narcissism, and readers are put in an unsettling place of sympathy and blame: it's clear this woman is in anguish, but her suffering is self-inflicted. Alemagna is careful not to overemphasize any specific message or moral here, allowing the reader to marinate in whatever they find the most discomfiting. That approach is mirrored in the riotous paintings that strike an appropriate and intriguing balance between the grotesque and the artistic. Figures are distorted and demented, palettes and textures clash, and perspectives are offkilter, all of which invite viewers to pore over the captivating details and imagery. Picture books for older readers don't always land with their target audience, but this will be an absolute draw for fans of dark fairy tales, and it has broad curricular possibilities in a fairy tale unit and/or art class. --Kate Quealy-Gainer, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
