Snow White in New York

"Snow White in New York" turns Snow White into a flapper. She is living in Manhattan, and all's well until her wealthy father marries an evil lady.

The evil lady enjoys scrutinizing herself--not in the mirror, but in "The New York Mirror"--but one day she discovers, on Page Six, that Snow White is now the fairest maiden of all.

Enraged, the stepmother sends a thug to find Snow White; the two are to travel, not to the woods, but to "the downtown area," and an "accident" is to occur. It's here that Snow White escapes, meets seven plucky "jazz-men," becomes a chanteuse, and reboots her life.

But the stepmother has one final move: She attempts to "off" Snow White with a poisoned cherry in a cosmopolitan. When someone accidentally drops SW's coffin, the poisonous cherry bit slides up out of SW's throat, and all's well once again. The apparently dead maiden comes back to life.

I have loved this book for years; by moving the action to New York, the writer makes you think about the cleverness and drama within the original story. The pictures are stylish and joyful. Some readers complained about the ending; I think that complaint "misses the point." I'm always happy to look at this book with Joshua.

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