Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 134

Fairy Tale Gifts 2012: CaRiiToO

Our next entry in the Fairy Tale Gifts 2012 Giveaway is from CaRiiToO:

My list is quite long, but these are some of the things I want. I'm an English major that wants to specialize in children's literature and folklore. (From Heidi: Why that's what I wanted to be when I grew up, too. I guess I am that now, but I'm still waiting on the growing up part.)


1. All "Tales From Around the World" by Heidi Anne Heiner. (That's 8 books now, so I'll just list a few: Cinderella Tales From Around the World, Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World,


2. Once Upon a Time: The Complete First Season DVD.


3. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers and Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights by Marina Warner


4. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm (Norton Critical Editions) by Jack Zipes (Actually, all Zipes' books would be awesome! I already have When Dreams Came True: Classical Fairy Tales and Their Tradition, Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale (Clark Lectures), and Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion)

 
 
5. Maria Tatar's books. Mainly The Classic Fairy Tales (Norton Critical Editions), The Annotated Peter Pan (The Centennial Edition) (The Annotated Books), Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood and The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (From Heidi: Don't forget the new The Annotated Brothers Grimm (The Bicentennial Edition)!)


6. The George MacDonald Treasury: Princess and the Goblin, Princess and Curdie, Light Princess, Phantastes, Giant's Heart, at the Back of the North Wind, Golden Key, and Lilith

From Heidi: Two wishlists included George MacDonald collections. While all of his books are available for free reading online, I understand the desire for a paper copy. I'd like to recommend finding editions of MacDonald's most popular tales illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and others, such as The Golden Key (A Sunburst Book) and The Light Princess (Sunburst Book).

 

Bargain Book: Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood by Maria Tatar

Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood by Maria Tatar is currently bargain priced in HARDCOVER for $10.78 on Amazon, which is 60% off its list price. This one is more children's literature than fairy tale discussion but should interest many readers here on the blog.

Book description:

Highly illuminating for parents, vital for students and book lovers alike, Enchanted Hunters transforms our understanding of why children should read.

Ever wondered why little children love listening to stories, why older ones get lost in certain books? In this enthralling work, Maria Tatar challenges many of our assumptions about childhood reading. Much as our culture pays lip service to the importance of literature, we rarely examine the creative and cognitive benefits of reading from infancy through adolescence. By exploring how beauty and horror operated in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, and many other narratives, Tatar provides a delightful work for parents, teachers, and general readers, not just examining how and what children read but also showing through vivid examples how literature transports and transforms children with its intoxicating, captivating, and occasionally terrifying energy. In the tradition of Bruno Bettelheim’s landmark The Uses of Enchantment, Tatar’s book is not only a compelling journey into the world of childhood but a trip back for adult readers as well. 30 illustrations

Leighton's Gift List

I've been blessed with a reading niece, named Leighton, who turns 10 in early January. Of my eight nephews and nieces (some by blood and others honorary), Leighton is the oldest. Overall, birthday and holiday gifts from me (and John) for this entire bunch tends to be books or book-related with occasional exceptions. I'm that kind of aunt. Toys come from parents and grandparents. I can't compete with that so I don't try. And I am so pro-literacy that books are pretty much my go-to gift for most people. But for all but one nephew, the books are desired. That nephew is getting Grossology and You to please his 7-seven-year old brain, so you know that I try hard to match interests to child, not my own tastes. After all, the books are gifts and intended to be enjoyed, not endured, by the kids who unwrap them. The entire bunch have great parents who read daily to them. Another niece has been read to every day since her birth three years ago. So I anticipate many years of great book gifting.

But for now, I admit, Leighton is the most fun because she is the oldest and her tastes are very similar to my own. She's been glomming books since she started reading, reading all Harry Potter twice in first grade and moved on from there. These days the biggest challenge is challenging her but not surpassing her maturity level. When a good portion of the books she checks out from the library are adult nonfiction, this is a brainteaser. I don't want a great book to be ruined by providing it too early. Fortunately, a good book is a good book, so I can move backwards in reading level without insulting her, too.

This list might seem long, but with her birthday shortly after Christmas, she gets a big pile of books when I see her so this is really her Christmas and birthday gift list.


1. In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz. I gave her A Tale Dark and Grimm last Christmas and we read most of it together during her short visit. (She finished it separately from me because she couldn't wait while I was spreading some time between family and friends.)


2. Princess Academy and Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale. She hasn't read any of these yet.


3. The Blue Sword (Newbery Honor Roll) and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. These may be the read together books while she is here. I am nervous about these since I adore them. I want her to adore them, too. Due to this pressure on myself, I've decided McKinley is this year and Megan Whalen Turner will be next year.


4. Dragonsong (Harper Hall Trilogy, Book 1) and Dragonsinger (Harper Hall Trilogy) and Dragondrums (Harper Hall Trilogy) by Anne McCaffrey. I've debated these but Leighton is still dragon-crazy although she peaked last year with them. I can turn these into a great history lesson, too, and explain how Menolly's name is a play on "men only." When my sister had a roommate named for the character, I was fascinated. I don't think she knew the name's full origins other than source book. I didn't tell her.


5. The Wee Free Men (Discworld) and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodentsby Terry Pratchett. These are my biggest gamble since Leighton, like her aunt, is not a big fan of talking animal novels. It must be a REALLY EXCELLENT talking animal book to overcome the prejudice. But it's Pratchett and it's time to start the British humor invasion. Wee Free Men is less problematic, of course, but I'm trying Amazing Maurice, too. I might add on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, but I haven't read it in YEARS and wonder how well it holds up for the current generation.

Fairy Tale Gifts 2012: Dark Faerie Queene

Our next entry in the Fairy Tale Gifts 2012 Giveaway is from Dark Faerie Queene:


1. Tanith Lee: Red as Blood: or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer

Tanith Lee became one of my favourite authors after I read her novel "White as Snow" and I am writing my MA thesis about Lee's and Angela Carter's fairy tale adaptations so this book would be very useful in writing my thesis.


2. Heidi Anne Heiner: Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the world

I am really interested in what kinds of different versions of fairy tales there are in the world. Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were part of my favourite fairy tales when I was a little girl.


3. Jack Zipes: The Irresistible Fary Tale: The Cultural and Social History of the Genre

Jack Zipes is one of the most important scholars who study fairy tales and I would like to possess as many works of his as possible so that I can use his books in my thesis.


4.Kevin Paul Smith: The Postmodern Fairy Tale: Folkloric Intertexts in Contemporary Fiction

This book sounds really interesting and I am obsessed with contemporary fairy tale retellings and adaptations


5. Diane Purkiss: Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories

Fairies are one of my other obsessions and I really like any kind of scholarly work about them.

Hans Christian Andersen's first fairytale found

From Hans Christian Andersen's first fairytale found: The Tallow Candle, thought to have been written by schoolboy Andersen, discovered in private archives by Danish historian by Alison Flood:

Experts in Denmark believe they have found the first story written by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Tallow Candle was discovered by local historian Esben Brage in the dense private archives of the Plum family, revealed Danish paper Politiken, which printed the story in its entirety today. Brage was in the reading room at the National Archive for Funen in Odense when he stumbled across a small, yellowing piece of paper at the bottom of a box and realised it might be important. Two months later, experts have now confirmed that the story was written by Andersen.

"This is a sensational discovery. Partly because it must be seen as Andersen's first fairytale, and partly because it shows that he was interested in the fairytale as a young man, before his authorship began," Ejnar Stig Askgaard of the Odense City Museum told Politiken. "And I am in no doubt that it has been written by Andersen." Experts Bruno Svindborg of the Royal Library and Professor Johan de Myliu have also agreed the text was written by Andersen.

I've had no time to read further about this but had to share before I inadvertently closed the tab forever...

Bargain Ebooks: Melanie Dickerson Titles

The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson will be released on January 8th. This means that her earlier books are bargain priced right now.

Sophie has long wished to get away from her stepmother's jealous anger, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be her chance at freedom---but can she trust another person to keep her safe?

Gabe knows he defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the orphan girl has stolen his heart. Though romance is impossible---she is his brother's future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else---he promises to himself he will keep her safe, no matter what.

When the pair are forced to run to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help---but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Can they find a way to protect Sophie while also safeguarding their hearts?

The first two books in the series are bargain priced in ebook format. They have been discounted previously but usually range from $6.99-$9.99. The Merchant's Daughter and The Healer's Apprentice are $2.99 each for a limited time. These are Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty retellings respectively.

Fairy Tale Tabs 12/17/2012

It's way past time for me to clear out some tabs:

Read On "The Snow Queen," Part 1 at Spinning Straw into Gold.


Read Why Stories are Important at Something to Read for the Train.


Read The Gingerbread Man at Fairy Tales for Twenty Somethings.


Not fairy tale related, but I definitely relate: The Book Hangover at All About Romance. Actually, I've been craving one of these. Need a book hangover badly. They are purging and I come out feeling refreshed, after I catch up on sleep, like a great vacation was taken without leaving my cozy home.


And, finally, wow, SurLaLune's CafePress site was recommended by Sycorax as a place for gift buying at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Thanks!

Sycorax says, "One of my favourite places to find presents for like-minded people is the Sur La Lune shop. It has products with old illustrations from fairy tales on them. You can look at these by fairy tale (which to my delight includes some of the less well-known ones), by illustrator (they have about twenty) or by product. I was already in love with Arthur Rackham's work, but this place made me discover the gorgeousness of Kay Nielson, Ivan Bilibin and several others."

Once you see a design you like, you can have it placed on just about anything, from tshirts to waterbottles. They also have journals with illustrated covers, as well

Fairy Tale Gifts 2012: Frances

Our next entry in the Fairy Tale Gifts 2012 Giveaway is from Frances:

Here are mine—I hope some good fairies take notice! ;)


1) Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives edited by Christine A. Jones and Jennifer Schacker (From Heidi: You and me both!)


2) A Companion to the Fairy Tale edited by Hilda Ellis Davidson and Anna Chaudhri (From Heidi: I own it! It is an excellent collection of essays. Comes off my shelf more often than I realized. The best place to read about Marian Roalfe Cox actually.)


3) My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales edited by Kate Bernheimer (From Heidi: Yes!)


4) Fearless Girls, Wise Women & Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan and Jane Yolen (From Heidi: Good one!)


5) The Snow Princess illustrated by Ruth Sanderson (From Heidi: I don't have this one either. Sanderson is so wonderful, too.)

Fairy Tale Gifts 2012: Virkinee

Our next entry in the Fairy Tale Gifts 2012 Giveaway is from Virkinee:

Hi, my name is Virkinee and I have been a lurker of your blog for sometime and I just subscribed to it. I love your blog and it’s content. The following are on my fairytale-related wish list:


From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner (From Heidi: Yes!)


Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer by Tanith Lee (Yes, I keep waiting for this to be reprinted. Sigh... One of my most favorite Beauty and the Beast retellings EVER.)


Beauty and The Beast (The Criterion Collection) (1947) (From Heidi: A classic! Double feature it with Donkey Skin)


The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter (From Heidi: Or get the full Angela Carter experience--including The Bloody Chamber--in Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories)


Coachman Rat by David Henry Wilson

As you can tell I like different adaptations of fairytales... (You have kindred spirits here! ~Heidi)

Fairy Tale Gifts 2012: Francisco Rodriguez

Our next entry in the Fairy Tale Gifts 2012 Giveaway is from Francisco Rodriguez:

Gosh, it's hard to choose which five!


Cinderella: A Casebook (Garland Folklore Casebooks) edited by Alan Dundes (From Heidi: Critical for any  Cinderella fans...)


King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition by Carolyne Larrington


Myths and Legends of Japan by F. Hadland Davis


Beautiful Angiola: The Lost Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales of Laura Gonzenbach by Jack Zipes (From Heidi: Be sure to get the volume linked above which contains the original two volumes that were first published in hardcover. This time the paperback is exceptionally economical compared to first publication!)


The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm All-New Third Edition by Jack Zipes (From Heidi: A must own!)

Good luck to everyone! ( I really mean it!)