east

Alyce at At Home with Books is doing a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

While I am a fan of (almost) ALL fairy tales, I do hold a chosen few close to my heart. One of those is the East of the Sun, West of the Moon myth. My grandmother donated a beautifully illustrated book from her personal library to my family sometime in my pre-teen years. East of the Sun and West of the Moon, illustrated by Kay Nielson in Art Nouveau style, had me enthralled from page one. The illustrations were finely rendered and almost mystical, and the pages were so fragile that the reading experience itself was quite tenuous.

That early exposure taught me to love the story, and reading different retellings since hasn’t shaken my affection for it. My preferred retelling in more recent times is Edith Pattou’s East.

Rose has always felt out of place in her family. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him, she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she finds love, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

As fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," told in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

Main character Rose feels stifled and misunderstood. Family pressures and misfortunes are exacerbated by her mother’s superstitions and her father’s job, which takes him away on map-making expeditions. But when adventure comes for her, she finds that the world and love are strange and that survival will be harder than she ever imagined.

While Pattou’s story follows the general outline of the original fairy tale, it is told from alternating viewpoints of five or six of the main characters. Each voice adds something to Rose’s story, even as they add to the overall picture. This movement and cycling through different voices could be confusing, but the author pulls it off. The technique lends itself to a sense of passage and travel that is not only unique, but also particularly suited to a tale that is essentially a journey.

Another distinctive (and perfectly wonderful!) ingredient in this story is the pervading superstition attached to the compass rose. Obviously, a sense of direction is central to the story. I mean, look at the title – East! But Pattou has created or borrowed superstition about birth order and personality type to attach to peculiarities of each point of the compass, and combined it with detailed descriptions of maps and the Far North. Added up, it is both beautiful and strange.

These elements, in conjunction with an honest and tender love story, equal not only a sterling fantasy tale, but also one that has earned its rightful place on my ‘re-reads’ shelf.

Recommended for: fans of fantasy, fairy tales, delightful young adult literature, unique world cultures, and journeys that end in love, sadness, and other essentials of growing older (and wiser). Enjoy!

This book counts for the Once Upon a Time challenge.

d’aulaires’ book of greek myths

Alyce at At Home with Books is doing a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

A lot of my picks for this meme date from the days when my mom homeschooled me. Well, it makes sense. I was homeschooled for six years, from ages eight to fourteen, and those years are crucial for development and education. They’re also great years for discovery and history and learning to love the written word. I mentioned in this post that my mom taught several Ancient World units. We took our time with Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and as a result, I can remember a lot of the mythology and history to this day.

One of the most memorable books from that period was D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. My mother started by reading the myths aloud, but I was anxious to learn more, and I ended up reading most of the book to myself in between lessons. When we cleared out the schoolroom area a couple of years ago, I found several ‘essays’ on the Greek myths that I wrote around that time. My 10-year old handwriting is funny, but my vocabulary was stellar. Talk about precocious!

Mighty Zeus, with his fistful of thunderbolts, Athena, goddess of wisdom, Helios the sun, greedy King Midas--here are gods, goddesses, and legendary figures of ancient Greece brought to life in the myths that have inspired great literature and art throughout the ages.

This book contains retellings and illustrations of most of the major Greek myths, and many lesser-known tales as well. While the textual portion is remarkably thorough and doesn’t over-simplify the myths, its strength is in illustration. I still remember the beautiful renderings tied to specific stories – the depiction of the Titans, or of Demeter and Persephone, or of Zeus and Europa. I think these were done with oil pastels or colored pencils – and the bright colors caught my younger eye and stirred my imagination.

Later, when we read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology in high school, I already had a firm grasp on the myths, what they meant, and who did what. I was also actually interested, because of that early exposure to D’Aulaires’ fabulous pictures. I’m proud now to be able to understand the symbolism and the literary references I find in my adult reading. And now that Percy Jackson and the Olympians have come along, there’s even more interest among the younger set about what these heroes and gods did, and if any of it is important.

Recommended for: anyone with an interest in mythology, but especially younger readers, and fans of illustrated books. It’s not heavy and complicated – it’s meant to be transparent and understandable. Oh, and fun too!

changeling

Alyce at At Home with Books is hosting a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

First off, I want to say that I’m super excited today, because I get to meet Alyce IN PERSON! She’s in town for a short while, and we’re heading to dinner with some other DC-area book bloggers (many thanks to Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit for organizing it!). I’m sure we’ll talk about our favorite reads. If I end up looking not-haggard – which would be rare for a Friday night – I’ll post photos. No promises!

As a huge fan of alternate universes or worlds just ‘sideways’ of ours, I was primed and ready for a book about ‘New York Between.’ So when Delia Sherman’s Changeling showed up on my Amazon recommendation list a couple of years ago, and bargain-priced to boot, I ordered it with alacrity. Luckily for me, the book didn’t disappoint.

A determined heroine, a quest adventure galore!

Neef is a changeling, a human baby stolen by fairies and replaced with one of their own. She lives in "New York Between," a Manhattan that exists side by side with our own, home to various creatures of folklore. Neef has always been protected by her fairy godmother until she breaks a Fairy Law. Now, unless she can meet the challenge of the Green Lady of Central Park, she'll be sacrificed! Neef is determined to beat the rap but time is running out…

Changeling is one of those children’s books that works just as well for and will appeal just as much to adults as to children. I loved the cover artwork for this one, but beyond that I didn’t have any expectations, except to hope that it would be awesome. What an entertaining read! It’s dark without being too dark, and Neef, our heroine extraordinaire, is silly sometimes but not stupid, and the adventures are precarious but fun. In other words, it’s the balance that works. I thought it was also rather hilarious in parts, as Sherman takes real-world landmarks, changes them, and then slips them into a ‘between’ world in inventive ways. It’s a solid re-read for whenever I need a bit of whimsy.

Recommended for: fans of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and anyone up for a romp through a New York City you think you might, but do not quite, know. Perfect for fantasy and fairy tale aficionados of all ages. Also for those of a more literal persuasion who might enjoy a dunking in the fantastic as long as there’s lots of adventure. And of course, for the young at heart.

a matter of magic + giveaway

Alyce at At Home with Books is hosting a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

Patricia C. Wrede has written some seriously lovely fantasy novels, and I believe she qualifies as one of the pioneers of the YA fantasy movement. Of course, I might be biased. I quite honestly adore everything she’s ever written. In college I forced a friend to read the Mairelon the Magician and Magician’s Ward books, because she said she’d liked Dealing with Dragons. That conversation started because I’d posted ‘None of this nonsense, please,’ above my dorm room door. Those were the words that Morwen the witch had painted on her house, if you’ll recall (and if you haven’t read Dealing With Dragons, Lord preserve us! I’ll mail you a copy if you win the contest. HUSH – yes, there’s a contest! Wait for it.).

I don’t remember her reaction being quite as enthusiastic as I’d hoped for, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm, and I’ve tried to get them into the hands of many a young person since, and even a few not-so-young persons as well. The problem with Mairelon and Magician’s Ward (and her title Snow White and Rose Red, for that matter) is that they haven’t been in print continuously. And when they are in print, they sometimes have ugly covers. It pains me to say it, but it’s true. So when I learned that Mairelon and Magician’s Ward were being reprinted TOGETHER, in a beautiful new package called A Matter of Magic, I was understandably elated.

When a stranger offers her a small fortune to break into a traveling magician’s wagon, Kim doesn’t hesitate. Having grown up a waif in the dirty streets of London, Kim isn’t above a bit of breaking-and-entering. A hard life and lean times have schooled her in one lesson: steal from them before they steal from you. But when the magician catches her in the act, Kim thinks she’s done for. Until he suggests she become his apprentice; then the real trouble begins.

Kim soon finds herself entangled with murderers, thieves, and cloak-and-dagger politics, all while trying to learn how to become both a proper lady and a magician in her own right. Magic and intrigue go hand in hand in Mairelon the Magician and Magician’s Ward, two fast-paced novels filled with mystery and romance, set against the intricate backdrop of Regency England."

Both of these stories follow Kim, a cross-dressing feisty street-dweller in an alternate-history England. That’s a mouthful, eh? So what’s alternate about it? Why, magic, of course! Kim has a tendency to get into scrapes, and her adventures (and those of Mairelon), are fun, fast-paced, a touch mysterious and always entertaining. Previously both titles were marketed to middle grade boys, but I can vouch that there’s enough there to make the teenage girl contingent swoon a bit as well.

Recommended for fans of Marissa Doyle’s Bewitching Season and Betraying Season, Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan, and any of Wrede’s other titles. There’s the same strand of humor and adventure and liveliness that runs through the rest of her works. Definitely for fun, and definitely for YOU (Yes, you. Don’t try to hide.).

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It turns out it’s your lucky day – I’m giving away THREE copies of A Matter of Magic!

To enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me which time period you’d add magic to (and if you’d visit it, of course!).

Please include your email address or another method of contact. Giveaway is open internationally. Comments will close on July 2 at 11:59pm EST, and I will notify the randomly selected winners via email.

Good luck!

eight cousins and rose in bloom

Alyce at At Home with Books is hosting a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

The name ‘Louisa May Alcott’ conjures up memories for many of us. From childhood classics, to a favorite film, to afternoons spent reading about girls who thought more of others than of themselves. That last bit always hit hardest. The girls of Little Women were so GOOD! Whenever I read Little Women I eventually put it down just a little bit unsatisfied with my own character and behavior. I wasn’t as considerate or brave or as accomplished as a March sister – what was wrong with me?

In that respect, Alcott accomplished her goal. She set out to write interesting and character-improving fiction. As a child, I was convinced and convicted. However, as an adult reading back through Alcott’s books, I’ve found different favorites and identified more with other characters. Rose of Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom is just such a one.

I know Alcott went to great pains to make everyone in her stories human and to give them normal foibles, but Rose always seemed more real. Now that I analyze it, I’m sure it’s because her stories are set with seven male cousins. Part of the ‘goodness’ of the Little Women, I was always sure, was due to the fact that they didn’t have BROTHERS. I had three, all younger. You can see that that makes all the difference. I’ll just make a sweeping statement: no matter how rambunctious, difficult and ridiculous a little sister can be, they’ve got nothing on a little brother. So Rose was legit, ‘cause she had SEVEN. I mean, they were cousins, but still. It counts.

Another thing that I love about the two stories (a single plot, though) is that they show that people can change, and in fact that they do change, from children to adults. This might just be my conscience taking a bite out of me, but I KNOW I was a smart aleck as a child. I also know that I’ve toned it down and learned some humility since then. It might be wisdom or it might be something else, but I liked that you saw all of the kids in these two books grow up into different sorts of adults. Spoiled for choice with all of the possible outcomes of childrearing, as it were.

Rose Campbell, tired and ill, has come to live at "The Aunt Hill" after the death of her beloved father. Six aunts fussing and fretting over her are bad enough, but what is a quiet 13-year-old girl to do with seven boisterous boy cousins?

In the sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell returns to the "Aunt Hill" after two years of travelling around the world. Suddenly, she is surrounded by male admirers, all expecting her to marry them. But before she marries, Rose is determined to establish herself as an independent woman.

These aren’t difficult books or long books – they’re just home comfort food, in book form. I re-read both a couple of weeks ago for free online, and remembered how much I loved Rose in Bloom and her Eight Cousins.

cyrus the unsinkable sea serpent

Alyce at At Home with Books is hosting a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

I think there’s probably no one quite as wonderful at drawing ‘beasties’ as Bill Peet. The man was genius. I first fell in love with his drawings without even knowing who he was. How’s that? You know those little monster sidekicks in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty who get it wrong, and face the wrath of Maleficent? They’re all Bill Peet. I can still hear that one who ignorantly reports that they looked in “all the cradles.”

Yeah, he’s the same man who was a fully credited animator on the majority of films during Walt Disney’s animation heyday, and also the author of over thirty children’s books. One, his autobiography, was Caldecott Honor book in 1990. But what does that mean in real terms? Well…my brothers LOVED Bill Peet. Whereas my sister and I would beg for just one more chapter of a Narnia book, my brothers would beg my mother to reread a Peet classic like Merle the High Flying Squirrel or The Whingdingdilly.

Another favorite was Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, which is as awesome as its title makes it sound. The story is pretty simple – sea serpent wants something cool and different in life, but doesn’t want to take part in the usual sea serpent-y activities, like terrorizing ships and ruling the seas. So he becomes involved with the fate of one particular boat, and many adventures and calamities ensue.

Cyrus is basically a picture book, so I can’t say much else without spoiling it. But know that the illustrations are charming, entertaining and silly/fun. The story is quirky and unexpected and perfect. I’d recommend this book for any kid, big kid, or kid at heart. And per my family’s experience: great for energetic young ones who have a hard time sitting still. Meet and love Bill Peet and Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent!

water song

Alyce at At Home with Books is hosting a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

I’m supposed to be doing a ‘Once Upon A Time’ reading challenge. I got all ambitious at the start of the year and signed up to read 20 books that fit in that ‘category’ – happily ever after, that is. I even bought a lot of them. Except now I’m in a bit of a funk, those lovely books are sitting neglected on my shelf, and I’m not reading anything new. BUT! There is one book that I’ve been meaning to feature on My Favorite Reads for a while which features a fairy tale theme. So I’m going to talk about it even though it doesn’t count for the challenge, and hopefully convince myself along the way that fairy tales are the way to go.

Young Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. When she and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, they never imagine that the war will touch their lives - but it does.

Soon Emma finds herself stranded in a war-torn country, utterly alone. Enemy troops take over her estate, leaving her with no contact and no way out. With all of her attention focused on survival and escape, Emma hardly expects to find love. But the war will teach her that life is unpredictable, people aren't always what they seem, and magic is lurking everywhere.

I’m just going to put this out there – I’m a huge World War I fan. I mean, I’m not a fan of war. Or any kind of atrocity. I just have a thing for stories set in that time period (the nineteen teens, if you will). A couple of my favorite fiction books are set in the early 20th century or an alternate history equivalent – Rilla of Ingleside, Leviathan and Phoenix and Ashes, for example. So Suzanne Weyn’s Water Song already has that going for it.

It is also an interesting adaption of the fairy tale of ‘The Princess and the Frog.’ This is not exactly a lesser-known fairy tale, but it isn’t often re-told for the older crowd, either. More mature fairy tale re-tellings often use the Snow White myth or others that already incorporate a dark twist. Myself? I’ve always thought that ‘The Princess and the Frog’ was very moral – almost a fable. I mean, the main idea is to learn that selfishness does not pay, right?

Water Song does not take the usual route. Emma is utterly isolated, though she does epitomize ignorant and spoiled at the beginning of the book. Normally that sort of person can’t lure any sympathy from me – but Weyn draws the other characters in the book with a deft hand, and creates enough action and tension and mystery that I was drawn into this novel. And Emma does show development over the course of the book. There’s definitely not an exact moment where you feel she ‘learned her lesson’ – more like real life creeps up on her through the entire story, and you know she’s not completely grown up even at the end of it. I like stories that let you imagine a little bit of the epilogue on your own, and this one fits the bill.

I can’t claim that Water Song is without faults. There were a couple of times (the first few pages, anyone?) when the narration was a bit stiff. But the ‘frog’ is unique and really the story’s saving grace, and the famous golden ball that goes into the water is interesting, too. It’s not perfect, but it’s entertaining and appealing, and I think that’s enough sometimes. Plus – Belgium during WWI? I’m in.

the serpent's shadow

Alyce at At Home with Books is doing a weekly feature where she highlights one of her favorite reads from the past and encourages others to do so as well.

Some of my favorite fantasy books are from Mercedes Lackey’s Elemental Masters series. The Fire Rose, The Gates of Sleep, The Serpent’s Shadow, Phoenix and Ashes, The Wizard of London, and Reserved for the Cat are the titles so far. I like all of them. I LOVE some of them. They combine alternate history, classic fairy tales, magic, and the setting of early 1900s England (except The Fire Rose, which is set in America). They stand alone quite well, but are set in the same world, and some of the same themes and characters make appearances in each book.

And while Phoenix and Ashes is my personal favorite in the series, I think The Serpent’s Shadow is very nearly as good, and actually a much better recommendation for anyone who’s a bit wary of ‘fantasy’ and ‘magic.’ Why? Because the heroine Maya’s story isn’t just a re-told fairy tale, with magic added in. It’s also a story about women’s rights, race and ethnicity, about cultural traditions and religion, and how one navigates those channels while also finding out if they will survive to find happily ever after.

Have I confused you? The plot’s not as noisy or as crazy as I might have made it sound. Or maybe it is, but Ms. Lackey just tells the story much better than I can.

Mercedes Lackey’s The Serpent’s Shadow takes place in the London of 1909, and is loosely based on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Echoes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers pepper the plot, and the author turns the dwarves of fairy tale lore into seven animal avatars who masquerade as pets.

Some of Maya's challenges come from the fact that she is not "snow white," she is a female physician, and that she has fled India for her father's English homeland after the suspicious deaths of her parents. But the implacable enemy who killed her parents has come to London to search for her, and there is mysterious death stalking the streets…

Kiplingesque descriptions, a vivid Victorian context and a layered story are enhanced by a surface that is as glossy and brightly colored as an action comic.

That gives you an idea of what the book is about, at least. It’s got a bit of mystery, solid doses of suspense and action, magic and magical description, and a plucky Eurasian heroine who is quite able enough to fight her own battles, thank you very much. She meets many interesting and eccentric characters on the way, and each of them inspire love or disgust as well, and leave one hoping they find their just desserts.

I couldn’t help but admire Maya. She’s the character who won’t give up, won’t let any sort of prejudice stop her, and who bends the traditional lines of race, religion and class just enough to make a space for herself and her loved ones. Add into that a really GREAT plot, and enough magic and alternate history to ground the story, and you have a recipe for a favorite.

Recommended for: fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-type mystery, historical fantasy, really interesting plots and sub-plots, fairy tale re-tellings, and action-filled adventures. Onward!