About half as long as the original, per review by Kirkus (below). Entered as a novelette from that estimate and word-count 15,027 for one edition of the original.
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"though this edition is shorter by half, it is no less difficult since she has retained MacDonald's comic, ironic, but elaborate prose (pruning it skillfully, to be sure)."
--Kirkus Reviews, contemporary review undated online (with later cover image and ISBN)
(positive on the illustration only)
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McKinley's "adaptation" (quoting the publisher evidently);
"What McKinley has done is shorten the tale, not really simplify it."
--Mitzi Myers, Los Angeles Times 1988-05-22 pJ10 "Children's Books: Words of Fantasy"
(extraordinarily positive on the illustration only)
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RM has "adapted it for a somewhat younger and less didactically interested audience". Ages 10 an up (from the publisher apparently)
--Mary Harris Veeder, Chicago Tribune 1988-07-24 pM5 "Just for Children"
