Three years ago, before Fairy Tale Comics, there appeared in the folklore-themed-comicsphere… What I love about this collection is that the illustrators treat the rhymes like little stories, following the original words but interpreting them in different ways. It’s “not a parody or deconstruction,” says editor Chris Duffy, but they do imagine context and backstory — who’s […]
This round of Guess the _____ Via the 90s Song Title is brought to you by: You can see the answers here. _____________________ 1. “Stop!” by Jane’s Addiction 2. “I Wanna Dance All Night,” by DJ Play feat. Ladivia 3. “Lollipop (Candyman),” by Aqua 4. “You Owe It All To Me,” by Texas 5. “Basket Case,” by Green Day 6. “Turtle Power,” by Partners […]
So, I’ve been spending more time these past few months over at IB, but I promise I haven’t forgotten La-La Land. New Postcards are on the way, including reviews of the 80s classic Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden, and the more recent Lost Voices trilogy, by Sarah Porter. In the meantime, I present the following video discussion between myself […]
I just wrote my first post over at IB. My very first IB post! Here’s a preview: _____________________ … Note: there will be SPOILERS. * * * * * “The Fire New Year” – A poor man and woman are celebrating the New Year, making do with what very little they have, when a weary traveler knocks on […]
I feel like this was a less prolific year for me, in terms of reading, so there are fewer titles for this year’s list. Hopefully I’ll pull out of this slump soon (and finally finish that darn challenge — there are new books I really want to read, but my path is blocked by the […]
This is a Finish ALL the Books! update. You can find the complete list of FAtBC titles here, and the ones I’ve finished so far, here. ______________________ Back in my 2012 Favorites post, I mentioned a few books I was looking forward to adding to this year’s Hall o’ Faves. This is one of them: […]
Yes, ok, all right, I know it’s not the most original thing. I’m not the first, second, or even 33,333rd person to go to DisneyWorld. But it was my first time, and it was a Juv/YA lit-and-folklore/fairytale-related experience, so by gosh, I will record it! Being the dedicated blogger on Juv/YA stuff and folklore/fairytale-related things that I […]
And now for something completely different! I may have once or twice mentioned my love for a certain Jim Henson film starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. Well, last year, when my best friend asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I remembered a book I’d been meaning to get my hands on for […]
Back in March, sj tweeted to me about this new informal club that Becoming Cliché was starting: the From the Bowels of Obscurity Children’s Book Club [pause while we wait for our inner 12-year-olds to stop giggling at “bowels.” Hee!] Y’all may remember some of my previous posts on nostalgic Juv/YA books (see the “nostalgia” […]
Grace Lin. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009, 2011. Kindle Edition. It’s been a while since I’ve read a story that had me thinking, each step of the way: This is amazing! … This is _amazing_! … This is _seriously amazing_! It’s a blend of fairy tale(s within [...]
Inspired by Jean of Howling Frog Books, whose January posts focused on lesser-known children’s titles from (mostly) outside the U.S., I thought I’d share a few of the classic Lithuanian stories I grew up with. . . . . . . . . Meškiukas Rudnosiukas (Little Bear with the Brown Nose), by Vytė Nemunėlis This [...]
Ok, break’s over! For the Classic Children’s Literature challenge in January, I read Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (totally original, I know, but this is as good a time as any to catch up on the major classics). And then I decided to compare them with Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who [...]
Today’s Double features two mermaid books, and you know what that means – the return of the Tide Metaphor! First up, Seanan McGuire. One Salt Sea. New York: DAW Books, 2011. 354 pgs. A few disclaimers: I follow and occasionally interact with the author via her LiveJournal blog. Whereas, like most people, I usually start [...]
Peter S. Beagle. The Last Unicorn. New York: ROC – Penguin, 1991. 212 pgs. . . . . . . . . The unicorn lived in a lilac wood… Tell me that doesn’t make you go all glittery-eyed with childlike wonder. So far, this is my favorite Classic Juv/YA Fantasy. It certainly helps that it’s [...]
Juliet Marillier. Cybele’s Secret. New York: Knopf, 2008. 424 pgs. This is the sequel to Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing, set six years later and focused — seemingly — on much more this-worldly intrigues. Paula, the second-youngest of the five dancing sisters, is invited to join her father on a merchant voyage from Transylvania to Istanbul, where [...]
I was browsing through Seanan McGuire’s LiveJournal, having just begun exploring her Fae-verse in the e-novella, In Sea-Salt Tears (it’s a companion to Book 5 of the Toby Daye series, but it’s understandable enough for someone who hasn’t read the main series…though it really makes me want to read One Salt Sea). Anyway, a few weeks [...]
And now this just caught my attention: in her most recent post, Chelle from Tempting Persephone shared this poem by Peter S. Beagle, and it has such a deliciously eerie, haunting, October-appropriate tone and imagery that I want to pass it along. Lines 3 and 4 are the ones that give me that shivery feeling Chelle [...]
Charles Kingsley. The Water Babies. London: Harper Press, 2011. So, there’s this kid named Tom. He’s a chimney sweep, and his boss is a jerk, and clearly not the best role model, so one day, while they’re sweeping some rich guy’s chimneys, fate (or maybe that strange Irish lady they met on the way to [...]
Sing a song of seal-folk, A graveyard full of bones, Cats as big as horses, and eerie midnight moans. PRESENTING: THREE REVIEWS IN VERSE Andrea Spalding. Seal Song. Illus. Pascal Milelli. Victoria, BC, Canada: Orca Book Publishers, 2011. Finn, he was a fisher’s son. Hark, hark, the seals do bark! To the waves he’d run [...]
Kei Miller. The Last Warner Woman. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2012. 272 pages. Note: Contains some swearing and a few explicit moments of sex. Having followed the Insatiable Booksluts reviews, I’d been wanting to read more independent press literature, so I browsed throughtheir publisher links. On the Coffee House Press site, I found [...]
George MacDonald. The Princess and The Goblin. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1986 (a facsimile of the 1920 ed.). 208 pgs. I’m counting this in the Fairytale category of Quest the Second, in the Once Upon a Time VI challenge. Yes, I did think of Labyrinth when I chose this. But try as [...]
Tempting Persephone‘s newest post has alerted me to the 6th annual Once Upon a Time reading challenge on the Stainless Steel Droppings blog. What’s this? A challenge that involves reading folklore- and fairy-tale-based works? Away I fly to learn more! And so, from now until June 19th I shall focus on the following quests within the [...]
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Did I get anything wrong re: May and Jazz’s relationship?
I didn’t get many of these, but “Rabbit Will Not Help” was one of my favourites from this book.
Some of the stories were completely new to me, including “Rabbit” (I like Lambert’s art style…the way he drew the music was a bit confusing to me, though), as well as “Azzolino” and “The Prince and the Tortoise.” I wasn’t sure how many people would be able to guess those ones ^_^;;