![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Jul. 2nd, 2010 10:53 am
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Read by Janet Song Once upon a time in China, there was a village on Fruitless Mountain where everything was brown with dust and nothing grew. In that village, the only thing with color is Minli, a girl whose hair is glossy black and whose cheeks are pink. Although she works just as hard in the rice fields as anyone else, her joy is listening to the tales of magic that her Da tells her every evening, even though her mother is convinced that they are a waste of time. One day, a goldfish seller comes into town. This sets off a chain of events that leads to Minli going on a journey to find the Old Man of the Moon, who has the Book of Fortune, so that Minli can ask him how to bring life to Fruitless Mountain*. On the way, she meets a dragon who wants to ask the Old Man of the Moon why he can’t fly. The main narrative is woven through with other stories, those that Da tells or that Minli hears along the way. At first, they seem to be just another poetic detail in an already lyrical story, but as Minli’s journey goes on, she meets more and more characters from the stories, all of them interconnected in ways that the original stories didn’t hint at. This was a Newbury Honor book, and I’m not sure how I missed it when it first came out last year. Lightening Bolt loved it until I made the mistake of showing him that I’d gotten Dealing with Dragons to listen to next**, but I had to make myself switch to my own book after dropping him off. Though LB might enjoy this more when he's a bit older, I'd recommend this now to readers of Donna Jo Napoli.
*Thus are two basic plots combined – a stranger comes to town and someone goes on a journey.
** Why yes, he is on a dragon kick of late. How did you guess?
Peter & Max by Bill Willingham This is the first non-graphic novel in 
The Giant and the Beanstalk by Diane Stanley Otto is a gentle giant who, most improperly, chooses a sweet little hen for his pet instead of a fierce dragon. When Jack steals it, Otto chases him down the beanstalk to get his pet back. Jack’s mother is shocked at her son’s behavior, and sends the giant into town to find him. “Just look for Jack,” she says. Poor Otto has a hard time – not only do his looks put people off, but there are an amazing number of Jacks out there, jumping over candlesticks, falling down hills, and so on. This is delightful not only for turning the story around, but also as a puzzle to recognize the nursery rhymes for children, identified in the back, and the recognizably close imitations of medieval art for adults.
Lucia and the Light by Phyllis Root. Illustrated by Mary Granpre Root (Big Mama Makes the World) and Granpre (illustrator of the Harry Potter series) bring us the story of Lucia. Lucia lives with her mother and baby brother on the side of a mountain in the far north. Long ago, there were tales of trolls up in the mountain, but no one is really sure they believe these any more. It’s an ordinary cold winter, until one day, the sun doesn’t come back. The cow’s milk dries up, the baby won’t stop crying, and they are running out of food. Lucia decides to climb to the top of the mountain to see if she can find the sun. Together with her milk-white cat, Lucia battles cold, dark, and yes, trolls, to bring back the sun. It’s a fine new story for Lucia with luminous pictures, perfect for the dark of winter.
Ash by Malinda Lo It’s fairy tale time! Here is Cinderella re-envisioned both more modern and more magical. It’s set on the edge of Woods, and there are rumors of Faeries in the wood. The modern Philosophers discourage belief in them, but the old Greenwitches still do. Our heroine Aisling’s mother was once apprentice to the local Greenwitch, but Aisling’s education in magic is limited to the fairy tales her mother tells her. (A note for those not familiar with Gaelic: Aisling is pronounced ASH-ling, so that Ash is a natural nickname.) Then her mother dies, and Aisling is grief-stricken. She takes to spending all her time on her mother’s grave, much to the concern of her father and the local Greenwitch. They’re afraid she’ll attract the Fairies, but she is too young and too absorbed in her grief to care. He remarries, probably hoping that new sisters and a new mother will help. And then he dies, debt-ridden, and the new stepmother, never overly kind, takes out her disappointment and anger on Ash. They move closer to the capital, hoping for a rich husband for the oldest stepsister, and Ash is forced to take the place of the household servants to repay her father’s debt. But all this time, Ash has been sneaking to the Woods whenever she can, occasionally meeting with a handsome but eerie Fairy lord. In spite of the new Philosophers, the Hunt, led by the King’s Huntress, is an ancient tradition still kept, and the town where Ash now lives is the starting point for the Hunt. Gradually, during her occasional escapes into the forest, Ash comes to know the young Huntress, Kaisa, who teaches her to track and ride. Increasingly, Ash is pulled between the inhuman and powerful attraction to her fairy lord and the complete escape from the human world that he promises and her attraction to the Huntress. 
The Sisters Grimm: Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley This is the first book of a delightful fantasy mystery series for elementary-age kids. Everyone has heard of the Brothers Grimm, but what if the stories they wrote down were real? Sabrina and Daphne Grimm didn’t think so, until their parents disappeared, the only clue a red handprint painted on the dashboard of their car. Two years later, they’ve been shuttled from one bad foster home to another, when someone claiming to be their grandmother comes to take them home to Ferrytown. Daphne trusts Granny Relda immediately, even when she starts telling them things that can’t possibly be real. The older Sabrina is more skeptical – even when a first attempt at running away has them surrounded by stinging pixies. But the next day, Granny Relda brings them along as she investigates a crushed house, crushed into what looks remarkably like a giant footprint. Many of the old fairy tale characters came to America when life got too uncomfortable in Europe, she tells them. They’ve mostly settled in Ferryport, where a spell the Grimms arranged for keeps the Everafters safely inside and unwanted people out. It’s not an entirely popular solution, and the modern-day Grimms face a good deal of resistance as they investigate the crime and try to keep the peace. The premise is remarkably similar to the excellent graphic novel series, Fables by Bill Willingham, though appropriately lighter for a younger audience. Still, we find, for example, Prince Charming mayor of Ferryport, and not entirely popular among the many princesses he’s wed and left. Strong characters, an engaging setting, and a fast-moving plot make this a great choice for young readers, or even their parents looking for a light read.
Selkie Girl by Laurie Brooks Elin Jean lives on the Orkney Islands. She doesn’t know why she has webbing in between her fingers, only that the bullying that disfigurement causes has kept her from having any social life outside her croft. Though she adores her mother and grandfather, the only person in the village she thinks she might be able to be friends with is Tam, a gypsy boy even lower in society than she is. She does not know why her father gets so upset at the amount of time she spends in or near the ocean, or why she is the only person in the villager so upset by the annual baby seal cull. When she is sixteen, she finally learns that her mother is a selkie, kept with her father and aging prematurely because of her own seal skin, hidden by Elin Jean’s father. Now Elin Jean has a choice of living with selkies or humans herself, ultimately finding herself on a quest to find the deep answer to her own question. The story isn’t clearly set in any time, though the place is vivid and the characters, especially Elin Jean, ring true. The lyrical language speaks of the enduring power of music, dance and story. This is a beautiful and timeless take on the ancient stories of the selkies, as well as a solid coming-of-age tale.
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce A couple of years ago, I talked about the 
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan Here is a haunting retelling of the Grimm’s story of Snow White and Rose Red. It starts off in an extremely dark place as Liga Longfield, with a baby by her father and pregnant from a gang rape, is on the brink of suicide. She is granted her own personal paradise, where she can raise her daughters in peace and freedom. The older daughter, Branza, is blond and peaceful, while Urdda is dark and fiery. As the girls grow, they and Liga discover gaps in the barrier, as an unfriendly dwarf and then two bears who act like men – one friendly and one with clearer sexual intentions - come into the world and leave again. Urdda begins to chafe at the confines of the paradise as she grows older, and finds her own way out. Eventually, the alternate world breaks down entirely and Liga and Branza, too, are forced into dealing with the harshness of the real world. There’s a lot of thought here on the dark side of sexuality, as well as looking at what is too much pain and how healing can occur. It’s told in language that feels antique and rural, pulling the reader deeper into the tale. Tender Morsels was an honor book for the ALA's award for teens, the Printz. One could also look at Patricia Wrede’s Snow White and Rose Red for an entirely different (and lighter) take on the tale.
Swan Sister edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri WindlingDatlow and Windling are the queens of fairy tales retold, often for adults, though I found this shelved not too inappropriately in children’s. Here are mostly-familiar tales retold by authors such as Jane Yolen, Kathe Koje, and Neil Gaiman (though I must admit that his contribution was disappointingly short.) Bluebeard, a story that gave me nightmares as a child, is told from the point of view of a survivor. The Old Man and the Fish is told from the other side of the lake, with very different characters. There’s a beautiful retelling of Cruel Sister, and two very different versions of Little Red Riding Hood. In the title story, one which seemed to intersect ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman I’m not anywhere close to Jewish, and I know that Hanukkah is a pretty minor Jewish holiday as such things goes. Still, I’ve always loved both the holiday and this cracking good story, which I first read when it was published in Cricket magazine in the early 80s, with small black-and-white illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. Her full-color, full-size illustrations here are a delight (as well as winning a Caldecott Honor). Though I brought Mr. FP all sorts of holiday books home from the library, my copy of this is the one that he wanted to read every day. 
The Return of the Light by Carolyn McVickar Edwards I’m a little late writing this book up, as the winter solstice has now been and gone. However, here is a nice little collection of folk tales from around the world for the winter solstice. Most of them don’t talk about the solstice per se, but about the sun. The introduction talks about historical solstice practices (including some of the saltier ones), but the stories are well suited both for adults and for telling to children of varying ages. Edwards helpfully provides a paragraph about the ethnic group that first told the story for each, so the stories aren’t as out-of-context as they often are in such international collections. It concludes with games and songs for people wishing to have family solstice celebrations. Read how the sun started as the wedding earring of a young Indian bride, how Loki killed Balder, the sun god, and how a young African girl married the sun.
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham. Illustrated by Charles Vess et al This is the just-published prequel to the long-standing Fables series. In the Fables world, the Adversary has been taking over all the fantasy worlds one by one. The characters have been fleeing to our New York City, where they have established an underground community led by Snow White and King Cole. In this book, Snow White is visiting the as-yet-unconquered Arabian Fables world, trying to convince the sultan – yes, that sultan – that he should ally himself with the New York Fables community. Naturally, he refuses to meet formally with an unattended woman, so she is sent to him as a concubine. Instead of sleeping with him, she entertains him with tales of escaping Fables to win him over. Each tale is beautifully illustrated by a different comic book artist, with the incomparable Charles Vess providing the illustrations for the frame story. These are most definitely fairy tales for adults, with familiar fairy tale characters in often horrific situations. But the stories are compelling and the illustrations lush, making this a beautiful introduction to the world of Fables while standing firmly on – or between - its own covers.
Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock I loved Murdock’s first book, Dairy Queen, and when all the reviews of this fairy-tale like book were so positive – well, I had to read it. Princess Benevolence is the niece of the childless king, and lives with her father and mother in a cottage outside the castle. She’s shy and plump and uninterested in courtly life and politics. Then the king and her mother are killed and her father disappears, probably at the hand of the neighboring kingdom of Drachensbett, which has always wanted their land. The unlikable and terribly proper Queen Sophia brings Ben to the castle for some forcible princess training, so that she can be married off to someone who will protect their tiny mountain kingdom. When Ben finds a secret room with a magic book, she dozes through her official lessons and stays up late at night to learn magic and raid the pantry. Only after humiliating herself at a grand ball does she realize how serious the threat to her country is – but will she be in time to save it? Ben is a likeable heroine far out of the usual princess mold, even for the growing genre of feminist princess books. The author said in an interview that Ben uses her own strengths rather than traditional male strengths to win the day, also notable. There’s a lot to think about packed into this book, as well as a fabulously surprising plot and Princess Ben herself.
The Apple-Pip Princess by Jane RayIn a kingdom long ago and far away, a king had three daughters. When the Queen died, the land turned brown and barren, and no one had enough to eat. Now, the king has given the princesses a week to show him which should inherit the kingdom. The older two sisters have grand ideas, but Serenity, the youngest, has only a single apple pip from her mother. The importance of the earth, growing things, and consideration for others are beautifully illustrated in Jane Ray’s trademark starry and ethnically indeterminate style.
Once Upon a Mattress If you like old-fashioned campy musicals and revisionist fairy tales, take a look at this one. Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman star in this Disney version of the Broadway classic. Burnett (who played Princess Winifred in the original Broadway production) stars as Queen Agravain, the queen of a fairy-tale land who won’t let her 40-something son, Prince Dauntless, get married. What she tells Dauntless is that a real princess would pass her test, which is different every time. But Lady Larken and Sir Harry need Dauntless to get married. No one else is allowed to get married until Dauntless is, and Larken is pregnant. Sir Harry goes on a quest to find a princess who can pass the tests and comes back with Princess Fred (Tracey Ullman) a moat-swimming princess from the swamp. Since the story is based on The Princess and the Pea, we all know how the story will end, but Dauntless and Fred are racking their brains to figure out what the test will be and how to pass it. Burnett wears fabulous sequined outfits with elaborate headdresses that look like an unholy cross between 1450 and Las Vegas, and of course, still commands the screen. Ullman’s Winifred is charming and stubborn, especially as she’s complaining about how Snow White had a seven men (practically a regiment, even if they were short) helping her get to happily ever after, while she’s on her own. There’s enough sexual innuendo here to keep the adults chuckling, between Fred wanting to be "satisfied" and Dauntless asking his literally dumb father to explain the wedding night to him, even as it’s quite sanitized enough for the kids not to notice. All of us enjoyed multiple viewings of this romp of a movie.
The Elves and the Shoemaker by John Cech. Illustrated by Kirill Chelushkin "A long, long time ago, when shoes were still made by shoemakers and not by machines in factories, a shoemaker and his wife found themselves in very hard times." So begins this new retelling of a classic fairy tale. The shoemaker cuts out his last pair of shoes before going to bed, but when he wakes up in the morning, they are beautifully put together. They sell for enough money to buy double the amount of leather, and thus turn around his fortunes. Finally, he and his wife decide to investigate, and find that a pair of elves in worn-out clothing are responsible. The language is good, but the pictures are what really stand out. They are ink and watercolor illustrations, in a palette of mostly browns and black with the occasional bits of red or orange. Chelushkin plays with the perspective, so that a plane can be a table on top and a house or a hat underneath, while little elves of all shapes crowd the edges of the pictures. They are more eerie than usual for fairy tales, but very fun to find everything going on.
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian VandeVelde Vande Velde is a well-known writer of fantasy and horror for the young, so this is a little out of her usual sphere. The problem with Rumpelstiltskin, she writes in the introduction, is that it just doesn’t make sense. For example, what father would lie to a king about his daughter’s abilities? What king would believe that an obviously poor girl had the ability to spin straw into gold? Why would anybody want to marry someone on a three day acquaintance, on every one of which she’s been threatened with death? In this collection, she sets out to make the familiar story make sense. She puts a different spin on each of half a dozen stories, so that in each one, a different character is to blame, and for different reasons. The language is contemporary, the stories funny, the concept fascinating. Enjoy!
