The 13 Clocks (Childrens Collection)
by James Thurber
Perfect
Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were
thirteen clocks that wouldn’t go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and
his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and
weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile, and
almost as cold as his heart. He wore gloves when he was asleep, and he
wore gloves when he was awake, which made it difficult for him to pick up
pins or coins or the kernels of nuts, or to tear the wings from nightingales.
So begins James Thurber’s sublimely revamped fairy tale, The 13 Clocks,
in which a wicked Duke who imagines he has killed time, and the Duke’s
beautiful niece, for whom time seems to have run out, both meet their
match, courtesy of an enterprising and very handsome prince in disguise.
Readers young and old will take pleasure in this tale of love forestalled but

ultimately fulfilled, admiring its upstanding hero (”He yearned to find in a
far land the princess of his dreams, singing as he went, and possibly
slaying a dragon here and there”) and unapologetic villain (”We all have
flaws,” the Duke said. “Mine is being wicked”), while wondering at the
enigmatic Golux, the mysterious stranger whose unpredictable
interventions speed the story to its necessarily happy end.
Personal Review: The 13 Clocks (Childrens Collection) by
James Thurber
"The Thirteen Clocks"
by James Thurber
illustrated by Marc Simont
---------------------------------------------
This is an utterly delicious, deliciously wicked satire of good, old-fashioned
fairytales in which gallant princes rescue hapless damsels from
unreasonably wicked villains. Like all great adventures, this story gets its
biggest kick from the bad guy, and prose stylist James Thurber goes all-
out in constructing the meanest, wickedest, most dastardly baddie of them
all, a fellow who is so evil he tortures small birds for fun and wears not only
an eye patch, but a monocle, too. Thurber gleefully piles on the fairytale
cliches and blithely pokes holes through each one. The real joy of this
book is in reading it aloud and sharing it with others: you can'y help but get
caught up in the rhythm of the writing, or laughing out loud when Thurber
delivers a real whopper. The story is also quite inventive, introducing
magical creatures unlike any seen before, as mysterious and unpredictable
as they are enchanting and bizarre.
This is one of the last books Thurber wrote -- dictated and scrawled down
as he was losing his sight, and wonderfully illustrated by Thurber's
collegue and friend, Marc Simont. Out of print for years, this book is a
delight waiting to be discovered by both Thurber fans and folks who like
good, creative children's fiction. Highly recommended! (Joe Sixpack,
ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)
For More 5 Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price:
The 13 Clocks (Childrens Collection) by James Thurber 5 Star Customer Reviews and
Lowest Price!