These illustrations are beautiful, a scary version of William Morris telling a dark fairytale of a girl and her mother that live by the woods. Soldiers come to their village so the mother takes the little girl to the woods and tells her to hide and return to her in three days. The little girl waits for three days and (view spoiler)[ like an episode of Dr Who, when the little girl returns her mother is an old woman (hide spoiler)] This was a great story to read not knowing what would happen, the...

From the Grimm brothers I expect dark fantasies - scary forests, witches, evil stepmothers. I don't expect to be miserably depressed after reading one of their tales . . . but I felt like hitting the bottle after reading this one. And the story is so laced with references to God and the Christ Child, it could have been written by James C. Dobson. Sendak's illustrations are lovely, but they can't save this bleak tale of woe.Perhaps Jacob Grimm was the imaginative brother . . .

"Dear Mili" is a story written by Wilhelm Grimm and illustrated by popular children's author Maurice Sendak that is regarded as being a lost story since we are never introduced to this tale in the original collection of the Brothers Grimm. This tale is about how a widow had to let her daughter go into the fierce wilderness in order to save her from the violence of the war that was raging in that country.What was so surprising about this book was that this was the only tale from the Brothers Grim...

As war approaches, Mili's mother grows increasingly concerned about protecting her only, precious child. Sending her into the forest to survive, there is a belief that a guardian angel will look after Milli and keep her safe.While it seems to Mili that she is only gone three days, in fact it is 30 years.In the forest she is welcomed by an elderly man, St. Joseph, who shelters her and upon departing to leave for home, he presents her a rose and tells her he will see her again.When she returns, he...

The illustrations are amazing. They’re so lush; I’ve never seen anything quite like them. I’m not the biggest Sendak fan but I love his illustrations in this book. The story is dark, grim, as are many Grimm stories. I wouldn’t recommend this one for most very young children unless first screened by their adults to determine its suitability, but the story was lovely in its own way. I enjoyed it. I’d thought I’d read this in about 1991 but it didn’t seem that familiar to me so I’m considering this...

What a sad story it is! The last of the story,I was very surprised. The heroine of this story is a little girl .She was a very good girl and lived with　her mother happily. However the war happened. Her mother decide to conceal her in the forest.The girl met the old man in the forest. And spend three days with him. And then…The picture of this book is very beautiful. However this story is very very sad.

Absolutely love this story, as well as the illustration. I first read it when I was around 8, and it has a huge impact on my writing style, as well as my idea of love, and life, and friendship, and being alone, till this day.

This is an absolutely gorgeous rendering of a little-known fairy tale. The beautifully lush illustrations pay homage to William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, and yet are unmistakably Maurice Sendak. The story itself is wonderfully told. Does it end happily? Um, no. It's Grimm. ;)

This recently discovered Grimm tale is, well, grim. I'm not so sure Grimm wanted it to be discovered. That said, Maurice Sendak uses an ornate style that is certainly Sendak, but not what you probably expect from him. All in all, it's a pretty odd story, but not all that different from other works from Grimm. The story is pretty interesting. . . until the ending. That's when it gets, well, grim. I can't imagine reading this to any of the grandkids.

There is something about the forest which speaks to the human spirit. Whether threatening and full of unseen danger, as in Little Red Riding Hood , or the stronghold of liberty, and safe-haven to which rebellious heroes such as Robin Hood and his band of outlaws withdraw, it looms large in our collective imagination. So too does war - that unwelcome specter which has dogged humanity for so much of its existence...It seems almost inevitable then, that any story which addresses itself to the hu...

This is one of the books I read at the Maurice Sendak exhibition in the Comtemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. There is a story that the words tell, and there are also layered stories in the accompanying illustrations. Even for books that he illustrates and does not author, Sendak enhances the rich texture of the text. Most of his stories and illustrations deal with the horror of the holocaust.I chose to buy this book from the museum shop because of the intricate illustration and its overt r...

Overall rating: 3.5 (3 for the story, 4 for the art)I was expecting a fairy tale, but this is so heavily Christian (complete with guardian angels and Saint Joseph), that I would never have guessed it was one of the Grimm stories. Maybe that's because I don't know enough about fairy tales.Sendak is not one of my favorite illustrators, but the art in this book makes the story. Take away the art, and the story would lose any appeal.

Well, that was grim, tho most gorgeously illustrated. A tale of a widowed mother and her last surviving child just as war breaks out. The child, Mili, is sent deep into the forest for safety, being optimistically told to return in 3 days. Enchanted, she returns in30 years. The between is beauty and love. If you can omit the last page, it’s heartwarming. Read it, breaking

Creepy. Meh.

Ok I am really unsure what to think of this book. On one hand the illustrations are gorgeous, on the other hand I do not get this story. I mean I know Wilhelm Grimm stories are usually not all sunshine and rainbows, but rather dark, as was this one. But the whole thing stems from an recently undiscovered Grimm story and letter, where the author writes a little girl and then tells this story. It is about another little girl and her mother who are happy as can be until war comes to the area, and h...

This book is probably too long for most young children, but it was great for me as an adult. The illustrations are wonderful. I think I love Mili because she looks like my little niece Lily. I'm generally not crazy about religious books, but this was ok. Its based on Brothers Grimm. Its basically a story about a little girl who goes away for three days but it is 30 years for her mother.

An additional fairy tale from Wilhelm Grimm discovered in 1983, masterfully illustrated by Maurice Sendak. The story itself is a grim one *boom-tish* but the preface to it that begins with "Dear Mili" is beautiful. And Sendak's lush surrealism is just wonderful.

After reading Tatar's evaluation of this in Off with Their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood I decided to reread this. I didn't like it when my children were young, closer to when it first came out, and I think with good reason. It really is dependent on context, imo, and is not (fortunately!) comprehensible by most children or many parents now. Otoh, it was relevant in the day, a century or two ago when it was told 'round the hearth. And it is gorgeous now, for adults reading on t...

Dear Mili: an old tale, by: Wilhelm GrimmFairy TaleAwards: Hans Christian Award Audience: 1st-5th gradeThe main character Mili is a little girl who is well behaved and happy, living with her mother, but war begins and she is left alone in the forest. Mili stays in the forest for three days where she is accompanied by an old man, when the three days are up the Mili returns to her mother where she is an elderly women.I have never seen or heard any version of this book before. This is probably the

Didn't feel like a traditional fairy tale, what with the saints involved. The standout here is really Sendak's illustrations. Probably not one you'd read to a child--this book is almost certainly made for adult fans of the Grimms and Sendak. (Rated for my personal interest, not the quality of the book or story.)