Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger won the John Newbery Award in 1925. I didn't know anything about the book when I picked it up other than it's Newbery, but I must say, I was quite pleasantly surprised by what I found.
I have always loved Fairy Tales. Like, a lot. If you remember, a few weeks ago I talked about my first experience reading Grimm's Fairy Tales, which helped cement my love for reading them as well. (If you are really interested, in my blog, and you can go back and read it.) So, imagine my delight when I realized this was a collection of 19 fairy tales recorded by Finger from South America. Although I'm not nearly as knowledgeable about other countries and their rich cultural histories as I'd like to be, I'm always open to learning more. And I think you can learn a lot about a society from their fairy tales and children's stories.
This was a real treat for me to read, and one I'm definitely looking forward to adding to my shelves and rereading, not only for myself but also to read to kids. I used to read some of the Grimm's fairy tales to my little brothers as a bedtime story, and I'd love to be able to add these tales to stories I can read/tell to young kids.
Although some of these stories might be classified as more mythology than fairy tale, I felt the same way reading these as I did reading the classic fairy tales. There's that sense of magic and possibility, where you know anything can happen, and although things might get a little rough along the way, and there probably won't be super happy ending, the good guys do win in the end.
I also noticed that the emphasis of each tale was placed on the struggles of each character rather than the resolution. The ending is always over so quickly. Normally, this is something that is a major no-no in writing, I mean, seriously. Who wants to read a 400 pg. build up to a 4 paragraph resolution?! But it seems to work in fairy tales. The stories aren't about what happens, it's about learning how to get there. We see their struggles, know their challenges and then we get to know they end up relatively alright in the end.
This is definitely a book I would recommend. The writing is a little older, but to anyone who is a fan of fairy tales in their original setting (or people who want to write a fairy tale retelling but are wanting new material) this is a great book to read and one that I strongly recommend.
Cloaked is another modern fairy tale retelling by Alex Flinn, the woman who wrote the ever popular Beastly (Beauty and the Beast) and the recently released A Kiss in Time (Sleeping Beauty).
I've made no secret about the fact that I absolutely adore fairy tale retellings, and I very much enjoyed Flinn's first two tales. Cloaked was just as much fun to read as the first two stories, but I actually liked this one even better.
Before I get into the story itself, I need to mention one of my most favorite parts of the book. In the beginning of each chapter, Flinn included a quote from one of the Grimm's Fairy Tales she took inspiration from and included it under each chapter numbering as a sort of foreshadowing for what was to come. I love the original fairy tales, and have read them many times, so it was beyond delightful to see them quoted within the story.
Cloaked is the story of Johnny, a young boy trying to help his mother pay their bills by spending all his free time working in their family shoe repair shop, located in a large Florida hotel. Johnny has big dreams, but is realistic enough to know that all they will ever be are day dreams. He works in the shop, but his real passion is design. He has notebooks filled with designs for high end, beautiful shoes. He's even managed to save enough scraps and materials to make up a prototype, and he knows they are a good design. But alas, he needs to stay behind to help his mother, and their is no way they will be able to afford college or trade school to further this dream. Although he wishes and hopes that there was some way something might be different, he has resigned himself to his fate.
But, in the way of all fairy tales, fate decides there is something more in store for our unassuming hero, and when a foreign princess (think Paris Hilton with a crown) comes to stay at their hotel, Johnny's life will change forever. Because real magic exists in the country out fair princess comes from, and her brother has been turned into a frog in a wicked attempt for the witch to steal their throne for herself and her evil oaf of a son. The princess is desperate for assistance, and promises Johnny money and marriage if he successfully saves the prince. In need of money, desperately hoping for something more out of life, and afraid to offend the princess, Johnny agrees to look into the disappearance of her brother.
It takes Johnny some time to admit and accept that magic really exists, but once he does, he finds himself in the middle of an impossible adventure, giving assistance to talking geese, taking aide from rats and foxes and searching every where for a missing toad all while being chased by magical crazy folk. By his side, ready and willing to offer whatever assistance she can is Meg, Johnny's longtime best friend who helps her family run the coffee shop also located in the hotel.
I adored the mash up of fairy tales included within Cloaked. We see elements of The Six Swans, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Valiant Tailor, The Golden Bird, and of course, The Frog Prince. Almost all of these tales come from my favorites of the Brother's Grimm. Being so familiar with fairy tales in general, and these fairy tales in particular did mean that I was able to predict a lot of what was about to happen, but there was enough that surprised even me that I was not left feeling like this was another predictable retelling.
This was a wonderfully fun story, filled with mischief and mayhem, love and loss, and the hope for brighter days. Johnny was a great character, well rounded and fully written. There are times when he is your typical 17 year old boy, but he is so much more than that. He's loyal and loving, willing to put others before himself and he truly wants to do the right thing. He is sacrificing his dreams to protect and assist his mother. Meg was also a wonderfully written character. Although we don't see as much personal development in her as a character, a lot of the growth we see in Johnny is a direct result of Meg's influence and company.
All in all, this was a wonderfully enjoyable book. It's the perfect combination of reality and myth, fact and fiction, and is full of all the elements which make a wonderfully perfect fairy tale. This is a story that I very highly recommend to any and all whole love a good fairy tale.
*Disclaimer: I received this book through Star Book Tours.
The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner is the sequel to the Newbery-Honor winner, The Thief (read my review ). I was impressed by the intricate writing Turner managed in The Thief, and was very eager to continue with this series. Although the writing in each book is very similar, this tone is different between the two. The Thief is rather lighthearted and fun. It has its depth and importance, but the overall tone is fairly light. The Queen of Attolia is... not so much. The mood and feel of this book is considerably darker and heavier.
But really, that's okay, because I loved this book just as much, if not a little more than The Thief. Turner's writing is as compelling in this book as it was while reading The Thief, although the focus is also a little different. Where, to me, The Thief is primarily about the characters, with Gen (Eugenides) being our obvious focus, The Queen of Attolia is more about the story and the intrigues rampant in court life. The Thief was a story, but the characters are the most important part. In Queen, the characters are still very important and are well developed and complete, but we already saw the beginnings of their development in Thief, and can now focus on the importance of their individual and connecting stories.
Before, Gen was our narrator in The Thief, and unless I'm remembering wrong, he tells the whole story. In Queen, we are given other narrators to help Eugenides tell this story. Although I do love Eugenides, he has become one of my most favorite fictional characters, my favorite narrator in this book was the Queen, Attolia herself. I loved the way her mind worked, and trying to guess ahead of time what plots and tricks she was working through. The face she presents to the world is ruthless and hard. She doesn't appear to be overly conniving, but as we listen in on her thoughts, it is clear that she has a very keen mind, one that is constantly assessing and reassessing the situation and all it's possible implications.
The plot to the story holds a very tight, intricate weave, one I was anxious to watch pull together. Each character has their own motivators, and their own interests to promote. At some point, each character believes that they hold the advantage and it's not until the end, when everything begins to wrap up and come together that we really are able to understand what has been going on this whole time anyway.
Once again, I must also point out Turner's fantastic world building. She set up the mythology and the guidelines for her world in The Thief and continued to build upon them here. I love spending time in this world that Turner has created because it is vividly real and the characters are written so much like real people that I wonder why we can't be friends.
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is the first book of The Queen's Theif series. In this book, we meet Gen, short for Eugenides, named for the God Eugenides, the patron God of theives. When we meet him, Gen has been locked in the King's prison for an unknown length of time, although it's clear he's been there a while. We don't know much about Gen, and he doesn't bother to tell anyone too much about himself beyond the boast that is responsible for his current predicament; "I can steal anything". He is taken from the prison by a man close to the King, and told that he is going to help him as a theif, or... else (cue omnious music). With no other choices, Gen leave the King's City with a small group of travelers on a journey with an as yet undisclosed destination. We know what Gen knows, which is simply that his expertise as a theif will be required. The book is narrated by Gen, and we learn about him as the novel progresses. I loved his internal dialouge, and the way he speaks and interacts with the people taking him on the quest. Although he's a theif, just 'realeased' from prison, Gen has a strong moral compass, and seems very genuine, and very sincere. It is clear from the beginning that there is more to Gen than meets the eye, but very little information is given to us. Most of it we are left to wonder about, puzzle over, and wait until Gen sees fit to let people know more about him. The book is very well written. We are given enough information throughout the story that I never felt frustrated by what I didn't know. I knew enough to be comfortable with the story, and I trusted that everything would be clear in due time. This is not one of those series that leaves you guessing about important details and facts for two or three books at a time. I thought Turner handled it brilliantly. The characters are also fairly vibrant, even the supporting characters. But, my favorite part of the book was learning about their myths and legends. There are several occasions, as Gen's group is traveling where they sit beside the fire and tell legends and stories of the God's and the creation of the world. I've always been fascinated by mythology, and I loved Turner's versions of those myths. Most were similar to the Greek legends, and it's clear that Turner borrowed from them, but the myths do not feel stolen. They feel created. I could easily believe that these were genuine legends believed and honored by people thousands of years old. I'm anxious to read the next books in the series. Not because I'm desperate to know what happens next because the author left us with a huge cliffhanger, because there isn't one. The Thief could easily be a story all it's own. This storyline is finished and although it is clear there is more to life for these characters than that which we have seen, this story is finished, and could easily be read on it's own and then left. But, I'm eager to read the remaining books in the series because the writing was beautiful, the characters engaging and the world is a treat to be in. I'd definitely recommend picking up this book. It's probably right close to the border between MG and YA, so it's just fine for younger readers, but there's enough to the story that older teens and even adults can enjoy it too.
Today's guest post comes from author Jaclyn Dolamore (Magic Under Glass, Between the Sea and Sky). When I (Misty speaking, here) contacted her about being involved in FTF and possibly doing a pos t on the behind the scenes stuff for Between the Sea and Sky (research loving dork that I am), I was understandably geeked when she agreed. And then she hit me with this awesomeness. Hope you love it as much as I do; if you do, make sure to leave her some comment love! And when you're done with this one, make sure to check out our interview and swagness! :)
Fairy Tales, Myths and World-building: Between the Sea and Sky
My first novel, Magic Under Glass, involves fairies, but in many ways they are closer to a view of elves than fairies--forest-dwelling people with a connection to the earth. After all, there were already so many YA novels that involve fairy lore and do it better than I ever could. However, when I began my next novel, Between the Sea and Sky, and I knew it would be about a mermaid--Esmerine--and a winged boy--Alan, I had to consider, once again, how much I wanted to draw from myths and fairy tales. There aren't nearly as many mermaid stories (especially when I started writing it... little did I know that 2011 would be the year of the mermaid!) so I wanted to adhere closer to traditional tales in shaping my world.
One of the most common elements of mermaid (and selkie) tales is the idea of an object that can be stolen to entrap the mermaid. Selkies usually shed their pelt, but mermaids carry caps, belts, capes, combs... A human man can steal them and the mermaid will have to come home with him and marry him. Usually they have children, but one day the man leaves the object somewhere where the mermaid can get at it and she steals it back and leaves him and her children forever.
Fairy tales, when turned into actual novels with messy human emotions and details and explanations, tend to beg some questions. My first question was, how on earth did these mermaids end up with this enchanted object a man could use to enslave them? Were they BORN with a magical object? Not likely, right? They must have created it at some point, but why would you create something that, in essence, held your freedom? And why were these mermaids always hanging out where men could steal their stuff, then?
This led me to the idea that the mermaid's belt (in my story, it's a belt) is an object of great magic, and the reason why is that a mermaid sings magical songs to fill it with power that lingers even after she has died. I figured that not ALL mermaids would have these belts. It didn't seem logical for a sustainable society! Only certain mermaids--the sirens, whose songs lure human men. And the reason their songs lure human men is because the sirens are, themselves, lured to the land and its people. After all, mermaids are half-human, so it makes sense they would be not entirely creatures of the sea. Interesting tidbit: the original mythological sirens actually had wings, and somewhere along the line mermaids took up the job, mythologically speaking. I bet there could be a story in that, too...
But back to mermaid fairy tales. The most famous one is still The Little Mermaid, and the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, like nearly ALL Hans Christian Andersen tales, is quite sad. The Little Mermaid is able to take on a human form, but only by giving up her voice and having every step feel like knives. I liked the idea of my mermaids having to sacrifice something to take on a human form, so I paid a little homage to this story too. The mermaids in my story can only walk with great pain, unless they give up their belt. Otherwise, their world is not nearly so depressing, I'll say that!
I was beginning to see my underwater society take shape from thinking about mythology, but the winged folk were really open for interpretation. Besides angels, which these people are not, there isn't much precedent for mythological winged folk. I wanted Alan's wings to work as logically as possible, so I didn't want him to look angelic--instead, his structure is more bat-like, with wings instead of, rather than in addition to, arms. He still couldn't really fly without a little magical help, but at least he could glide. But it also means the winged folk kind of have to sacrifice hands for wings. They do have a thumb and index finger and longer toes capable of grasping things, but I imagined these delicate flying people would have to make more use of tools and machines to be able to do various types of manual labor as effectively as humans.
In astrology, coincidentally, the air element represents the mind and intellect. I had written about a winged race some years before and they were very primitive and lived in mountain caves, but I wondered if maybe I should take these winged folk in the opposite direction--they pride themselves on scholarly attributes. And it makes sense, because they would be able to move and share ideas faster between cities and countries than any other people. Their world is about the equivalent of our 1800 and the more I thought about it the more wondrous it seemed to have wings back then, when even the train wasn't invented and roads were often terrible.
Now, I hope my readers will enjoy reading about these cultures as much as I enjoyed figuring them out!
Jaclyn Dolamore is the author of Magic Under Glass, and the upcoming companion, Between the Sea and Sky. You can find her online here:
Cindy Pon is the author of two Asian-inspired high fantasy novels, Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix. While not based on a fairy tale, the books, especially Silver Phoenix, are full of original lore and mythical beings that could have stepped out of any traditional story. For a review of Pon’s work, please visit A Backwards Story .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them? I love the Hans Christian Anderson stories like The Little Match Girl and The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen. They were all magical but also all rather tragic. I think my father was the one to buy me his anthology and I treasured those stories.
2) What Chinese folklore tales were your favorites? What did you like about them? My favorite is The Cowherder and the Weaver. It is called the Chinese Valentine’s story and not only incorporates fantasy, but is very romantic. The weaver girl in the story was immortal and despite having children and living a happy human life, she was pulled back and separated from her family and husband to return to the heavens by her angry grandmother. So it is only on July 7th of each year that the lovers can meet in the heavens on a bridge across the Milky Way formed by magpies.
2) Did any traditional tales influence you when writing Silver Phoenix? Not really. I'm influenced by everything I read in a way. But with Silver Phoenix, I simply knew I wanted to tell a heroine's journey and have a fantasy inspired by ancient China.
3) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building, especially because, despite the Chinese influence, Xia isn't China? How did you bring everything together? That wasn't the difficult part. The difficult part was allowing myself the freedom to make stuff up! I had to realize and accept that I wasn't writing a historical or even a historical fantasy (which would have to take place in a certain time or place in our history), but creating my own world inspired by China. Once I gave myself that freedom, it was easy to just write Ai Ling's story the way I envisioned it. It is no different than what Tolkien or Lewis or many fantasy authors did, use real culture and myth but also create your own for your fantasy world.
4) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors? I really enjoyed Entwined by Heather Dixon as well as Ash by Malinda Lo. White Cat by Holly Black is amazing (followed by Red Glove). These novels are loosely based on the White Cat fairy tale and is a favorite series of mine!
5) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why? As tragic as it is, and as afraid as I am of being underneath the sea very deep, I'd have to say The Little Mermaid. I've always been fascinated by mermaids since reading the story.
6) Will you be writing any more novels that incorporate mythical beings? Can you tell us anything about your upcoming work? I only sold two young adult novels so Ai Ling's story ends with Fury of the Phoenix. For my next project, I do hope to write and sell another Xia fantasy starring a shape-shifting snake demon (very popular in Chinese folklore) heroine and a wannabe monk. =)
8) What are some traditional Asian tales that should be more well-known in the Western Hemisphere? Journey to the West (Monkey King) is the best known (but still not very well-known) story. I'm very excited, as Neil Gaiman has been asked to write the screen play and I hope to see an excellent film made for the US audience in the near future!
And now, in traditional Fairy Tale Fortnight fashion, the lightning round of crazy but fun questions!
~Best fairy tale villain and why? The stepmother from Snow White. She was just so conniving and scary
~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale? A pastry, like Pie or Cupcake.
~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: Cupcake wandered lost in the strange forest, surrounded by star-shaped donuts, singing apple pie slices, and dancing blueberry scones.
~Would you rather: - — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden Eggs!
- — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers? Polish glass slippers!
- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? A fairy godmother!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and answer some questions for us today Cindy! The interview was fascinating! And thanks Bonnie, for contacting Cindy and working with us on these interviews! You are both wonderful!
Today's interview is with Zoë Marriott, author of The Swan Kingdom (read Ashley's review) , Daughter of the Flames (which Ashley also loved) and the upcoming Shadows on the Moon (which both Misty and Ashley are eagerly awaiting). Zoë has known that she wanted to be a writer since she was finished reading her first book; The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. She thinks she was about eight, but she decided on being a writer and hasn't changed her mind since then. And boy, are we glad that she didn't! Help us welcome Zoë to the blog today!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The Swan Kingdom is my favorite retelling of The Six Swans/The Wild Swans that I have come across. You talk about what inspired you to write this one down in your guest post. I loved what you did with the story to make it your own, but your interpretation of the ending to this story is largely responsible for how much I love this book. Without spoiling anything, can you talk about that? Can you share where or how that idea came to you?
So hard not to spoil!! Argh! Okay... well... basically, in the original version of the story, I didn't think the heroine really got a very happy ending. Or enough credit! She's clearly an extraordinarily brave and strong young woman, loyal the her brothers to the end despite all the suffering she's gone through — but she gets stuck with this prince who pretty much *kidnapped* her, and then was going to burn her because he thought she was a witch? That's true love for you, right? And she never gets justice for the wrong done to her family by her stepmother, or any closure, or even to see the land of her birth again! I suppose a few hundred years ago women weren't supposed to care about thing like that, but I was sure that for someone like her, the fate of the people she had left behind much have weighed on her mind very heavily. And then, it also made sense to me that in order to reverse such a powerful curse on her brothers through almost nothing but willpower and knitting, she must have had some fairly strong magical power of her own! So I wanted to try and bring those elements into the resolution of the story and bring everything full circle.
Did you have the changes you brought to the story in mind before you started writing, or were these things that came to you after?
Wow, that's a good question! I think some of them were always there, because they grew from the questions I had about the story — the questions that made me want to retell it. I mean, for example: just who was the mother of these royal children? In fairytales the real mother nearly always gets erased in the first line and replaced by a wicked plot-point. But it seemed to me that, particularly in The Wild Swans, where the father is pretty much a non-entity and yet the children are remarkable, that the mysterious, dead mother must have been remarkable too. So I always new that in my version the mother and particularly her death would be significant and happen 'on-screen' as it were. In other cases, the changes to the story were due to things that happened to be marinading in my brain at the time. When I was working on the first draft of the story I was watching a BBC documentary series about British pre-history in which there was a lot of information about the hunter-gatherers who built all our long barrows and stone circles. The experts talked about ancestor worship, and about the way that cave art seemed to show animal and human spirts all together, as part of nature. But then as people started to farm and develop agriculture and a more sedentary life, the idea of ownership and kingdoms appeared, and there was a massive shift in the way people lived. Did the hunter-gatherers disappear? Or were they absorbed into the farmer population? So those ideas worked their way into the book, and gave me an interesting and, I think, unique magical system and backstory for the Kingdom. Is there a fairy tale that you just need to retell, but are waiting to retell, or holding off for now? What are some of the other fairy tales you've considered retelling? Are there any fairy tales that you absolutely do not want to retell? Sooo many! I've always wanted to retell Beauty and the Beast, but I'm horribly intimidated by Robin McKinley's legacy. I mean, how is anyone supposed to live up to THAT? And there are a lot of less famous stories, for example, from Japanese mythology, that I have ideas about. The one I've never really been interested in is Sleeping Beauty — there's so little for the princess to do, and the idea of falling conveniently in love with your saviour bugs me. But I'd never say never. I always hated Cinderella too, until she started whacking me on the back of the head with a pick-axe demanding I tell her story properly! You've also written a non-fairy tale story, Daughter of the Flames. How does the writing and the research differ between the two genres? Which do you prefer writing? Do you prefer creating a completely new story and creating the world to fit the story, or taking an existing story at making it your own?
This isn't a very interesting answer, but I can't really put my finger on any significant differences in the process between writing an original fantasy and a fairytale relling. Possibly because I don't stick very closely to the specific events of my fairytale frameworks (as you may have noticed!) which means I still need to come up with my own plot, my own characters, my own emotional conflicts and arcs. Probably more importantly, I don't really think that writing a fairytale retelling is a get-out-of-jail card when it comes to setting. It's easy to slip into that non-specific, Eurocentric, Tolkien-esque world we all know so well. But that is a thin, bland sort place where I don't have much fun as a writer. Creating the world of Shadows on the Moon, for instance, required as much (actually, far more!) thought and research than the world of Daughter of the Flames. Your most recent book, Shadows on the Moon comes out this July, and I'm crazy excited for it. It's a Cinderella story, but she is most assuredly not your typical Cinderella. You mention why you wrote her this way in your guest post, and I am dying to read about it. There are many fairy tales with rather weak heroines. Are there any other stories that you would like to retell to give the heroines a chance to be strong? Actually, I think the female characters in fairytales tend to get a bit of a bad rep, overall. In a lot of original folk stories, young woman are cunning, resourceful, brave and loyal. Often men are the weak ones who need to be rescued. Look at Janet in Tam Lin, Kai and Gerda in the Snow Queen, the heroine of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, all those clever young witches and woodcutter's daughters! And the powerful, fearsome baddies are often women too. The problem, I think, is that the Victorians didn't approve of all these bold, adventuring women, and they cut their parts down and sometimes out entirely, in order to make fairytales 'fit' for their children. Not many years later, Disney carried on this process by producing a great many films in which being sweet, obedient and passive (and supernaturally attractive to forest animals) were the heroine's only traits. Later films, like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, did allow the heroines to have SOME personality — but their number one desire was nearly always to escape from their fathers so they could find true love, and their princes were the ones with the claws/swords. It's really only very lately that we're seeing books and films that give women back their original, strong roles (Tangled, for example!) and I'm very happy to be a part of that process. Silly/Random Questions: ~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Pencils, probably. I always have one on me somewhere! Princess Pen... now, why does that sound familiar?:) ~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: "Princess Pen cracked open her stepmother's ribcage and cut out the woman's horribly blackened, twisted, yet still-beating heart; she then replaced it with an artificial one which she had grown within a local farmer's pig, and closed up the incision." [Misty likes Princess Pen already... ] ~Best fairy tale villain and why? The wicked fairy from Sleeping Beauty's christening. She's really the only interesting character in the thing! ~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites? Childhood favourite was definitely The Wild Swans, and I have to be boring and say it STILL is. Least favourite used to be Cinderella — now Sleeping Beauty. ~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be? I wouldn't. Are you crazy? Those stories are full of utter loonies, and even Princess Pen isn't mightier than the sword. ~Would you rather:- — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden eggs. With a little smoked salmon, on toast points. Maybe they would finally allow me to get a tan. - — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers?My hair is actually waist-length right now, and I'm about to have it cut off from sheer annoyance, so I'd have to go with the slippers! - — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? Fairy godmother — and once you've read Shadows on the Moon, you will know why! [Ashley says — SO mean to tease us this way when you already know how badly I want to read it! :) ]Fill-in-the-Gaps, story 1: Three Wishes The strange little man had offered Princess Pen three wishes. But what to wish for? The obvious answer was world peace , but that would never do, for obvious reasons. Princess Pen wasn't naive enough to think that people would ever stop fighting for long. And unlimited money for stem cell research was out of the question, since Princess Pen's wicked stepmother had outlawed it.
The Princess squandered the first two wishes on aiding earthquakes sufferers and cooling down some nuclear reactors, and really needed to make the 3rd one count. There was only one thing to do: he/she would ask her genetically enhanced pig, Francis.
So early in the morning, the Princess set off for her lab where the porcine Francine lived. It was no easy task getting there; Princess Pen went through three security searches and a full body CT scan, and nearly lost hope of ever reaching Francisand making her final wish before she had to go off and do her rounds at Mount Eraser Hospital. Her stepmother's security measures were really getting out of hand.
But in all good time, Princess Pen reached the door of the one person who could help. With great trepidation, (for Francis could be somewhat cranky in the mornings if he hadn't had his coffee) Penknocked and waited. Finallly, Francisopened the door with one handsomely trimmed trotter and peered out. “Yes?” he said.
Penlaunched into the story of the little old man and his three wishes, but Francismerely held up a hand and said “It’s simple, really. I’m surprised you wasted your time coming all the way out here — you must wish for your wicked stepmother to agree to heart surgery so you can change her blackened, wizened heart for one which is generous and free of bigotry and unreasoning fear.”
Penwas baffled. Wish for something so simple? Not magic League-Boots to travel the world, or a wheel to spin flax into gold so that she could set up an inoculation project in the slums?However, it wasn't long before Pen realized that if her government was run by someone who actually had a working heart all the other things might one day be possible. So the Princessdid the only thing she could, and wished for her stepmother to finally heed her pleas to accept a new heart.
Whether it was the right choice, the world will never know, but for Princess Pen it meant freedom from a great deal of unnecessary red tape in the long run, and the increased well being of everyone within the kingdom. And with all of the wishes gone, Pen lived busilyever after. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Thanks for stopping by Zoë!! We're so glad to have you! Hope you guys liked the guest post. If you want to fill in one of the stories for yourself, see this post. And make sure to head over to our awesome guest post from Zoë, and enter to win our prize pack of Zoë's books!
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli is a retelling of The Little Mermaid that ties in the Sirens from Greek Mythology. It is, without a doubt, my favorite of all the Napoli retellings I am familiar with. In this story, Sirena is a mermaid and a siren. All sirens have the opportunity to earn immortality, but they must know the love of a human man. And so, they sing, luring sailors with their enchanting voices to their deaths, desperate to find a man to love them. But Sirena cannot live like this. She does not like the death and the killing and so she leaves her siren sisters and lives on an island alone. Until the day a man is left for dead on the beach of her island and she decides to save him.
Sirena may not agree with the way her sister sirens lure men to their doom, hoping to earn their immortality, but she does crave that give of eternal life. But she refuses to seduce a man with he songs into forgetting what and who she is. When Philoctetes is abandoned on her island, she knowingly risks the wrath of Hera to save his life. She is drawn to him, and as she cares for him, trying to heal him, they form a bond and become friends. She hopes that they might fall in love, but wants that love to be real, to be pure, untainted by her siren's song.
This story reads like a fairy tale combined with a Greek Tragedy and it is all the more magical for it. Napoli pulls darker elements into this tale, as she does with all her stories and no where do her intricate and unique combinations work better than here. The Greek Gods are a vengeful lot, unforgiving of mortals and those who interfere in their dealings with mortals. Hera sent the serpent that bit Philoctetes, the bite that would have killed him, if Sirena had not interfered. For a long while, it would seem that the Goddess would overlook this infraction, overlook this insult, but all too soon, the consequences of interfering with the punishments of the Gods are manifest. And those consequences are all the more painful, more damaging and hopeless because it they are not catastrophic tragedies. They are small slights and refusals that eventually might destroy them.
Sirena is a story that catches at you. It's been a while since I read this book, although I did reread much of it to prepare for this review, but a lot of the story stuck with me. And what I didn't remember came back clearly and vividly as I began to reread the story. We are privy to Sirena's thoughts and so we are able to feel her indecision, share her hesitation and her heartache and accept that which can have no other outcome. If you only ever read one Donna Jo Napoli story or one retelling of The Little Mermaid, please, make it this one.
Today our guest post comes from Jennifer, who blogs at Carbohydrates and Conjugations. This is a great post and I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ One of the earliest fairy tales I can remember is the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. My parents took me to see it in theatres, and I watched repeatedly a VHS copy of it recorded from the Disney channel. That VHS tape got pretty worn down, and eventually Disney released Sleeping Beauty from the vault and I got an “official” copy. When DVDs became popular, I upgraded to the DVD. And this was the case for many other Disney movies: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin... you get the picture.
Naturally I thought Sleeping Beauty was a beautiful love story, and couldn’t believe how lucky Briar Rose/Princess Aurora was to have found her True Love. She made it look so easy! First, you meet the man of your dreams. Then, you gaze into each other’s eyes and fall instantaneously in love. Tragically, someone tries to prevent your happiness (probably because for some reason their prince never came for them!), but in the end everything works out perfectly and there is a beautiful wedding.
Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney movie to give me an eye-opening experience. Belle was so different from Princess Aurora; she didn’t fall in love with the first man who proposed to her--in fact, she refused to settle! She was her own woman, unwilling to let any man dictate how she would live her life. And, at the age of 9, my perspective on fairy tales became drastically altered.
Please don’t get me wrong--I still love a good love story like Sleeping Beauty, where the heroine does absolutely nothing to warrant Mr. Right falling in love with her. Sometimes I even wish it were that easy. But it’s not. Little girls grow up with these expectations, and for some of us one day it just clicks. We are in charge of our own destinies; love is not something that can just be taken for granted.
One thing that most fairy tales never show us is what happens after Happily Ever After. In Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix, we are introduced to Ella, a girl who took charge and went to Prince Charming’s Ball just to spite the Step-Evils. Because she is the most beautiful girl in the village, Prince Charming will have no one but Ella. Now living in the palace, Ella has a hard time adapting to a life of luxury. Why should a maid stoke the flames for her when Ella has two perfectly good hands capable of doing the work for herself?
There aren’t any fairy godmothers, pumpkin carriages, or shape-shifting mice in Just Ella. She even pokes a bit of fun at the fairy tale when she says, “Why did everyone like that story so much when it wasn’t true? Why was everyone so eager to believe it? Was it because, in real life, ever after’s generally stink?” (p. 189) The lesson that Ella soon learns is that “happiness was like beauty--in the eye of the beholder”. (p. 218) Though Just Ella doesn’t end in your traditional Happily Ever After, it ends exactly the way Ella wants it to. And that’s satisfaction enough for me.
I will probably never stop loving traditional fairy tales, but every now and then I want a heroine that thinks for herself and creates her own happiness--with or without her Prince.
Thanks again Jennifer! I loved reading your thoughts!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jennifer has also been generous enough to offer a copy of the book she talks about Just Ella for one lucky reader. If you would like a chance to win Just Ella, fill out the form linked below!
Details:
Contest open Internationally, as long as The Book Depository ships to you. Closes May 5th May 8th! +1 for each way you follow Jennifer's blog-Carbohydrates and Conjugations (+2 for old followers) (GFC, email subscriber, etc) +1 for a MEANINGFUL comment on Jennifer's guest post.
Hello and welcome! You have been listening to me talk about Fairy Tale Fortnight for months now, and it is finally here!!
This post will be constantly updated throughout the event with links and new information. Every night at midnight EST, the post will be updated with a full schedule of the day's upcoming events. As the posts go live, I will be updating with links throughout the day so you don't miss a thing!
At the bottom of each post will be one of these three pictures: Clicking on one of these pictures will bring you back to this page, to view all the great new updates.
There is also a link-up in an additional post where you can link up your fairy tale related posts for others to read!
Also, Bonnie at A Backwards Story has some awesome stuff happening on her blog this week! When she learned about this event, she not only provided us with a guest post, she spoke with a few of her author contacts about interviews (which will be upcoming) and she is reviewing a new fairy tale on her blog every day of the event. You will definitely want to head over there to see what she's got happening.
I really hope everyone is just as excited for this as I am! Let the Fairy Tale goodness begin!
Sunday April 17:
~ Schedule and Additional Post Link-Up ~ Anahita's Woven Riddle Contest ~ Beauty review at The Book Rat ~ A Librarian Guest Post — Winter's Child at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Jessica Day George and a giveaway! ~ Her Royal Orangeness Guest Post-Tam Lin at The Book Rat ~ Entwined reivew at Basically Amazing Books
Monday April 18:
~ Why Fairy Tales Are Magic ~ a guest post from Zoë Marriott ~ Bound review at The Book Rat ~ Japanese Fairy Tales by Danya at Basically Amazing Books ~ The Healer's Apprentice Giveaway + Fairy Tales in Bruges at The Book Rat ~ Memory Monday: Beauty at Basically Amazing Books ~ Zoë Marriott Prize Pack of Awesome ~ Hush review at The Book Rat ~ Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow review at Basically Amazing Books ~ FIll-in the Blanks with JG at The Book Rat
Tuesday April 19:
~ Jaclyn Dolamore Interview & bookplate giveaway ~ Curlypow's guest post: Beauties and Beasties at The Book Rat ~ TBR Tuesday at The Book Rat ~ Beastly review at Basically Amazing Books ~ Princess and the Hound review at The Book Rat ~ The Uses of Enchantment giveaway from Edie ~ Happily Ever After — Myth... BUSTED with Jennifer AND a giveaway at Basically Amazing Books ~ 'The Red Shoe's at The Book Rat ~ A Kiss in Time review at Basically Amazing Books
Wednesday April 20:
~ Easter Giveaway at The Book Rat!! ~ Prize Pack from The Introverted Reader at The Book Rat ~ Mini-review of Ash + a giveaway! at Basically Amazing Books ~ The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde Guest Post at Basically Amazing Books ~ Wishlist Wednesday at The Book Rat ~ Interview with Donna Jo Napoli ~ Tender Morsels and the dark side — Guest Post at The Book Rat ~ Review: The Swan Kingdom at Basically Amazing Books ~ Review: Rapunzel's Revenge and Princess Academy at The Book Rat
Thursday April 21:
~ Nancy Werlin Giveaway ~ Fractured Fairy Tales with Bonnie at Basically Amazing Books ~ Kiss part 1 at The Book Rat ~ Review: A True Princess at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Alex Flinn ~ Reivew: I, Corinader at The Book Rat ~ Review: Calamity Jack at Basically Amazing Books ~ Midnyte Reader: The Horror of Fairy Tales at The Book Rat
Friday April 22:
~ Mette Ivie Harrison Guest Post and Giveaway ~ Review: Sirena at Basically Amazing Books ~ Review: Princess at the Midnight Ball at The Book Rat ~ Why I Always Forgive My Fairy Tales at Basically Amazing Books ~ Friday Face Off at The Book Rat ~ Interview with Heather Dixon ~ Enna Isilee: How Fairy Tales Changed My Life at The Book Rat ~ Review: Princess of Glass at The Book Rat ~ Review: Zel at Basically Amazing Books ~ Kiss, part 2 at The Book Rat
Saturday April 23:
~ Jessica Day George Prize Pack #2, courtesy of Sierra ~ Short Story Saturday pt. 1 at The Book Rat ~ Groovy Fairy Tales guest post by Jayme at Basically Amazing Books ~ Short Story Saturday pt. 2 at The Book Rat ~ Fables review and giveaway, guest post by Kristen at The Book Rat ~ Interview with Zoë Marriott ~ Kiss pt. 3 at The Book Rat ~ Short Story Saturday pt. 3 at The Book Rat ~ Review: Wildwood Dancing at Basically Amazing Books ~ Mini-reviews: Impossible and Extraordinary at The Book Rat
Sunday April 24:
~ My Unfair Godmother giveaway at Basically Amazing Books ~ Dark Literary Retellings + giveaway from Titania at The Book Rat ~ Kiss, the final part at The Book Rat ~ Series Review: Once Upon a Time at Basically Amazing Books ~ Poetry, Shmoetry at The Book Rat ~ Once Upon a Time Cover Discussion at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Marissa Meyer ~ Book of 1000 Days from Miss Eliza at The Book Rat ~ Review: Princess of Glass guest post with Ems at Basically Amazing Books ~ The Twelve Dancing Princesses guest post with Ems at The Book Rat ~ Once Upon a Time Series Favorites at Basically Amazing Books
Monday April 25:
~ Interview with Diane Zahler + giveaway ~ Review: Cloaked at The Book Rat ~ Memory Monday: Deerskin at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Cindy Pon ~ 10 Awesome FT characters guest post with CSI Librarian at The Book Rat ~ Review: Shadow Spinner at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Elis O'Neal ~ A Kiss in Time: Guest post with Sierra at The Book Rat ~ My Favorite Fairy Tales guest post with Enna + giveaway! ~ Beastly Teaser at The Book Rat
Tuesday April 26:
~ Giveaway: Shadow Spinner ~ Titania's Favorite Movie Adaptations at Basically Amazing Books ~ Alanna: Acrostic Awesomeness + YA FT giveaway at The Book Rat ~ Alanna: Acrostic Awesomeness + Children's FT giveaway at Basically Amazing Books ~ TBR Tuesday at The Book Rat ~ Fairy Tales, Myths and World Building: Between the Sea and Sky ~ Review: The Princess Trio by Mette Ivie Harrison at Basically Amazing Books ~ Sleeping Beauty-Then and Now guest post by Tricia at The Book Rat ~ Fairy vs. Faeri: a guest post by Laura at Basically Amazing Books ~ A Fill-in Game with Elie at The Book Rat ~ Review: Juniper Berry at The Book Rat
Wednesday April 27:
~ Interview with Janette Rallison + giveaway! ~ Juniper Berry excerpt + giveaway! at The Book Rat ~ Guest Review: Rapunzel's Revenge with Kristen at Basically Amazing Books ~ Wishlist Wednesday — Unreleased titles at The Book Rat ~ Guest Review: Cloaked with Sierra at Basically Amazing Books ~ Sleeping Beauty: A DoublClik Editorial ~ From One Book to Another: East of the Sun, West of the Moon at The Book Rat ~ Interview with Victoria Schwab ~ Review: Keturah and Lord Death at Basically Amazing Books ~ Failed it or Nailed it: East of the Sun, West of the Moon comparison at The Book Rat
Thursday April 28:
~ Interview with Carolyn Turgeon + giveaway! ~ 2 Classic Irish Tales, from Mel U at The Book Rat ~ Guest Review: Enchantment from Cynthia at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Mette Ivie Harrison ~ Review: Troll Bridge at The Book Rat ~ Video with Jessica Day George and announcement from The Giveaway Fairy ~ Interview with Sarah Porter ~ Review: Magic Under Glass at Basically Amazing Books ~ Fill-in-Game with Khadija at The Book Rat
Friday April 29:
~ Guest Post with Marissa Meyer: Not Your Average Retelling ~ Mini-reviews: Jon Scieszka at The Book Rat ~ Why Fairy Tales? at Basically Amazing Books ~ Friday Face Off at The Book Rat ~ Guest Review: Tithe by Ammy Belle at Basically Amazing Books ~ Interview with Tia Nevitt ~ Book Journey Guest Review of Cloaked at The Book Rat ~ Book Journey Giveaway at Basically Amazing Books ~ Review: The Mermaid's Mirror at Basically Amazing Books ~ Review: Castle Waiting at The Book Rat
Saturday April 30:
~ Interview with Elizabeth C. Bunce + giveaway ~ Opening lines for the Faery Reel at The Book Rat ~ Short Story Saturday 2 at The Book Rat ~ Fairy Tales I Can't Wait to Read at Basically Amazing Books ~ Review: Daughter of the Forest at The Book Rat ~ Fill-in Game with Maureen McGowan ~ Review: The Sister's Grimm at Basically Amazing Books ~ Silly interview with Misty ~ Silly interview with Ashley ~ Little Red Riding Hood Video Project ~ End credits/THANKS!
Is everyone else as excited for Fairy Tale Fortnight as I am?! It's going to be EPIC! And to prove it to you, to get you even more excited and to just share the general awesomeness, Misty and I are opening up a giveaway today!
Donna Jo Napoli agreed to be a part of Fairy Tale Fortnight and has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She agreed to an interview (which is awesome and will go up next week) and she also agreed to a very generous giveaway.
So — What can you win? We have 5 signed and personalized hardcovers of Crazy Jack to giveaway, which is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk and 10 signed and personalized paperbacks of The Great God Pan , which is a retelling of a Greek Myth. Yup. You read that right. 15 books to giveaway, which means 15 chances for you to take home an awesome signed and personalized book!!
In order to enter this giveaway, Donna has asked that you tell her your favorite NON-European Fairy Tale. Just fill out the form below to enter! This is the same form that is found on Misty's blog so please only enter once.
Although there is a place in the form for your favorite Non-European tale, we ask that you also leave your answer in the comments section. This will give you one additional entry, and is the only extra entry available.
Donna did ask us to open and close the giveaway early, because she will be leaving the country in the middle of the event and wanted to be sure she was able to get everyone their books before she leaves. Because of this, it will be mandatory that you leave your mailing address in the form below. Your address will be shared with no one, other than Donna if you win. But, there will not be time to email all 15 winners and wait 48 hours for a response because Donna will be leaving. If you don't include your address, your entry will be deleted.
Also, this giveaway is International! Open worldwide! Just make sure, that if you are international, you give us all necessary mailing information in the form!
The giveaway will be open from now until April 18th at 11:59 PM MST. I will draw the winners on April 19th. I will send an email to each winner, letting them know they won, as well as an email to Donna Jo containing all the winner's information.
