Jan Pienkowski brings traditional Polish fairy tales to life with vibrant and witty paper-cut illustrations. Dragons and kings, frogs and spells, witches and mermaids - all the hallmark characters of traditional Polish fairy tales are found in this magical collection. Jan Pienkowski draws on a distinctive cut-paper technique learned as a child in Poland to produce dramatic and vibrant illustrations for eight time-honored stories. Celebrating honesty, loyalty, and creativity, stories such as "The Krakow Dragon" and "The Warsaw Mermaid" will captivate today's child as much as they did young Jan during his childhood. A pronunciation guide assists the reader with Polish place and character names.

Author Biography

David Walser was born in 1937 in Singapore, where his father was serving in the R.A.F. Trapped in Indo-China by the outbreak of World War II, David Walser and his mother made a perilous escape back to England. He is a writer, translator, artist, and musician, and has collaborated with Jan Pienkowski on eleven books. He lives in London. Jan Pienkowski was born in Poland in 1936. When his family heard the sound of approaching guns that marked the coming of World War II, they headed for Warsaw, the first step in an odyssey that took them to Bavaria, on to Italy, and finally, to England. Jan Pienkowski is a two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and lives in London.