Tag Archives: fairy tales
I Wish I Could Fly to Fairyland, Too!
In 2011, Caherynne M. Valente (1979- present) wrote a wonderful book called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making. It is one of those magical stories that will sweep you up and away and drop you back home changed for the better. With characters named September and Saturday, Gleam and …
Fairytales With a Twist
Gail Carson Levine (1947 – present) is and award-winning American author of young adult fantasies. Ella Enchanted (1997) was her first novel, and my first introduction to her work though I discovered her over a decade later. I have long been a fan of fairytale retellings, and this reinvention of the classic Cinderella tale did …
Urban Fantasy and Charles De Lint
I had never heard of urban fantasy until I discovered Charles De Lint. Though I had always thought of myself as a reader of fantasy, I had obviously been living under a rock because this man’s fabulous stories had gone unnoticed by me through my late teens and twenties. Charles De Lint (1951- present) is a …
Oh, How I Love Jemima Puddle-duck!
Beatrix Potter’s (1866-1943) words and illustrations grace the pages of my go-to baby shower gift. (Well, that and Winnie the Pooh!) Her stories have entertained generations of children, ballet patrons and television watchers. She first published The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1901 and went on to publish over 23 books. They continue to sell all …
A Fairy Tale Miscellany
Over the last month, I have been posting on Saturdays about some of the more influential fairy tale collections/collectors. Today, I wanted to wrap up the series by going over some of the other collections. These and their collectors are no less influential, but I came to know them later in my life and am …
From Denmark Round the World
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish author who is probably best remembered for his fairy tales. He was a prolific writer of plays, novels and poems, as well. But it is his fairy tales, that have become embedded in the our minds here in the US. His stories, such as “The Little Mermaid,” “The …
The Father of Fairy Tales
While the Brothers Grimm might be the first name that comes to mind for many of us when we think of fairy tales, Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was the one who laid the foundations for the fairy tale as a literary genre. He was a French author whose works were derived from pre-existing folk-tales. He wrote …
The Grimmest Tales Are Best Read Aloud
As I mentioned last week, I was first introduced to Grimm Fairy Tales as a child. We would bring a library copy along on family camping trips and read them aloud while roasting marshmallows around the fire. Those tales were scarier than my typical fare at that age, and the darkness surrounding our ring of firelight …
Catching Fireflies 