Seven at One Blow

by Eric A. Kimmel, Megan Lloyd (Illustrator)

A lively retelling of a Grimm fairy tale that celebrates cleverness above brawn relates how a tailor who kills seven flies at one blow manages to become king.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Fiction, School, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1812

About the author

Eric A. Kimmel is an American author of more than 150 children's books. His works include Caldecott Honor Book Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman), Sydney Taylor Book Award winners The Chanukkah Guest and Gershon's Monster, and Simon and the Bear: A Hanukkah Tale.
Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Lafayette College in 1967, a master's degree from New York University, and a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois in 1973. He taught at Indiana University at South Bend, and at Portland State University, where he is Professor Emeritus of Education.
Kimmel lives with his wife, Doris, in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven at one blow: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm by Erc A. Kimmel, Illustrator -Megan Lloyd- Children’s Illustrated Colour Picture Book- This book narrates the story of a young tailor who is planning to start his lunch. His lays down sweet seasoning on it. Flies are attracted and sit on the seasoning. The boy moves his palm to fly them away but there is no effect. He picks up a piece of cloth and hits them. Seven of the flies die in one shot. Now, the boy wants to try his luck. He writes on his blue belt ‘Seven in one blow” and moves out. He is gifted a cheese by a lady. He picks up a small bird and moves out. First, he meets a giant. Giant reads the letters on his belt and challenges him. He breaks stone and water comes out. To challenge him, the boy presses the cheese until drops of water comes out. Now, they are equal. The giant takes him to his house where his four brothers are sitting. The eat together. The boy is shown a room to sleep. The bed is large, therefore, the boy sleeps below the bed on a carpet. In the night, the Giant’s brother tries to kill the boy but as he is not sleeping on the bed, he escapes. Next day, when all 5 Giants are sitting, the boy hits them with an apple and hides. He repeats his trick. The giants fight one another and lie on the ground wounded. Now, the boy goes to the Kings soldiers and informs them about the giants. King is angry because the giants are creating a havoc in his territory. The King and the army comes to view the giants. They force the giants to leave his territory. The King keeps his promise to marry his daughter with the boy. The tale teaches the moral that we can achieve what we believe. Children will find his adventures exciting and his trickery amusing. The simple language is easy for children to follow. Illustrator’s illustrations are detailed watercolor paintings. The character's facial expressions are vivid and match the story's depiction of their personalities. The tailor exudes confidence and cockiness in his facial expressions and in his body language. The king is depicted as angry and arrogant. I have read the Hindi translation of this book.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this re-telling of the classic tale. Words and pictures both delight.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is lovely, but illustrations are lacking.

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great classic tale with fun and wacky drawings.

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite lesser-known fairy tales illustrated by a favorite lesser-known illustrator! I delighted in this one.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story depicts a young man who uses cunning to convince people and animals that he has physical strength. The tale teaches the moral that we can achieve what we believe. Children will find his adventures exciting and his trickery amusing. The dashes of humor in this story bring a sense of fun to the tale. The simple language is easy for children to follow.

Megan Lloyd's illustrations are detailed watercolor paintings. The character's facial expressions are vivid and match the story's depiction of their personalities. The tailor exudes confidence and cockiness in his facial expressions and body language. The king is depicted as angry and arrogant. The pictures are colorful yet the colors are not vivid. The whimsical flourishes bring a liveliness and humor to the story.

I enjoyed the part of the story when the tailor tricks the ogres by dropping acorns on their heads. The ogres become enraged with their misperception that the other is hitting them, and end up killing each other in anger. The tailor's cunning is admirable, but he certainly was lucky too! His character was silly and a bit arrogant, but he was fun nonetheless.

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the tailor's adventures are present in this one, which, granted, are rather violent in places, but this is one of the better traditional renderings out there. The tailor starts with killing the flies, kills several (murderous) giants, gets two ogres to kill each other, captures a unicorn, pens a wild boar, and outwits the king's assassins to become king himself (the princess and her father run off in this version). The illustrations are pretty straightforward and more than adequate. The vocabulary is a bit heightened, aiming this as a slightly older picture book audience, perhaps fourth or even fifth grade unless the child is very literate. Overall, though, it's a good version of the story.

[Valerie]

I'm pretty sure I did not read this specific version, so I can't speak for the illustrations, wording, etc. in this edition.

This story of winning through misconstrued bragging and trickery was probably popular in its time, when tradesmen (like the tailor in the story) had few chances for advancement, and those only by their witty manipulation of the perceptions of others.

This story is somewhat similar to Puss in Boots, although the tailor is helped along by a series of misunderstandings more than by some concerted plan.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun retelling of a classic story by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm. We've read a lot of Mr. Kimmel's books and we especially enjoyed the Anansi tales.

The ferocious unicorn didn't look too ferocious, but otherwise, the illustrations are terrific.

[Lauren Anderson]

The book would appeal to lower elementary students as a read aloud book. It could also be read independently by an intermediate student. This book is humorous as it tells of a tailor who tricks his way to winning a kingdom. It has a little violence in that he get ogres to fight. It shows the power of being clever.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the classic tale of the tailor who outwits giants, ogres and a unicorn. He's able to do this because he wears a belt that boasts "Seven at one blow." It actually means he swatted seven flies with one swipe, but who needs to know the details?

[Loren Featherston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoyed this amusing classic of the clever tailor that uses his wit to overcome giants, ogres, unicorns and a wild bore. I believe this book would be very entertaining for not only children but the adults as well.

[Jeremiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome! It's an adaptation from a Brothers Grimm story. I won't give a review because it will spoil it. It's a fun read. My kids laughed and laughed during the whole story.

[Alusha NotYourBusiness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where I'm from everyone knows this story :)

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice retelling of the Grimm Brothers' tale. My best guess for read aloud audience is ages 4-7, but I think older kids would enjoy it, too. Longer text makes it better for experienced listeners.

[Jenny W · Rating 3 out of 5]

entertaining to read aloud to a younger audience