Designed for children learning to read, this book retells The Elves and the Shoemaker in lively, natural language to help children develop the confidence to read alone. Level Three is suitable for children who are developing reading stamina and who are ready to progress to longer stories.
This book is part of a book series called Read It Yourself .
. This book is part of a reading scheme, meaning that it is a book aimed at children who are learning to read.
There are 48 pages in this book. This book was published 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd .
ALAN MACDONALD, compiler of Whispering in God's Ear and The Essential Christmas Book. Actor, poet and author of several anthologies and picture storybooks. ANDREW ROWLAND's work has been shortlisted for the Macmillan Children's Illustration prize. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were German professors whose collections of folk tales and fairy tales have been loved for generations.
This book contains the following story:
The Elves and the Shoemaker
In Grimms' The Elves and the Shoemaker a poor shoemaker has leather to make only one pair of shoes but many bills to pay. He cuts out the leather and leaves the shoes for sewing. The next morning the pieces have been transformed into an exquisite pair of shoes, so fine they sell for a fortune. This magic is repeated until he is quite wealthy. But his wife wishes to know where the beautiful shoes come from, and so the two stay up and spy. They discover that every night a band of elves visit and stitch the leather into gorgeous shoes. However the elves do not like to be seen, and having been discovered by the shoemaker never again return. But the shoemaker now has such a reputation that this is of no concern, as customers are plentiful and he is able to make a pretty good living on his own.
