The tale of Little Thumb emerged, like many oral tales, from very early times. He was the youngest and smallest of seven brothers, the children of a poor woodcutter and his wife. Little Thumb, with his courage and clever thinking amidst great dangers, casts a light in the darkness, prevailing as he does over starvation, fear, and even death itself. The wonderful illustration of Little Thumb and his brothers going into the forest was created by Edmund Dore for inclusion in Charles Perrault's iconic book (1697) of 8 fairy tales. It was the first written version of this tale.
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I Often Wonder . . .
What was it like, in the centuries when wonder tales were told and passed on, for a peasant woman to walk out of her house in the damp early morning, hoping that the invaders had been turned back and that her husband was still alive.?
What was it like for a father to call his sons from the fields and run together into the woods and hide from the ruthless military?
What was it like for a family, carrying food and their youngest child, as they ran up a rocky hillside to seek shelter behind the walls of the city?
For most of the western world and beyond, survival was an ongoing part of life.
Oral tales were entertainment and escape.They often brought laughter, and always brought hope. They were light in the darkness.
The painting is by Pieter Bruegal.
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Sara Maitland Took Me to Twelve Forests
Sara Maitland lives in an isolated shepherd's cottage in Galloway, Scotland. She is known as a feminist, and as an accomplished writer who pushes the boundaries. Her books, diverse and wide ranging, fiction and non-fiction, have been well received and include prize winners. Titles range from Far North to On Becoming a Fairy Godmother.
In Her Own Words: "I write fiction – mainly short stories now – mostly hyper- (or magic) realist, exploring the boundaries of beauty and terror. I use a lot of old stories (myths, fairy stories, folk tales etc.) to my own more contemporary ends. I have recently got very interested in “the new nature writing” and issues around ecology and sustainability. I am presently writing a book about Forests and Fairy Stories (which is a cross over fiction/non-fiction work) . . ." Scottish Book Trust
Sara Maitland has always had a strong interest in spiritual life and since her divorce from from an Anglican priest (after 21 years) she has embraced a life involving silence and meditation. Here is a quote and a comment by author Kathleen Jamie from her Guardian review of Maitland's A Book Of Silence.
"What I want to do is live in as much silence as is possible at this moment in our history." It's not complete isolation - although she has no near neighbours, she has the internet and a car - but she is aiming for a prayerful life of "80% silence".
"There is an interior dimension of silence, a sort of stillness of heart and mind which is not avoid, but a rich space." Sara Maitland
The photos are of Sara Maitland in Galloway. Here is a link to many excerpts from her writings on citydesert
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World of Magic Opens Before Us . . .
"Wilhelm Grimm, wrote that fairy tales were the 'last echoes of pagan myths. . . A world of magic is up before us, one which still exists among us in secret forests, in underground caves, and in the deepest sea, and it is still visible to children. (Fairy tales) belong to our national poetic heritage..."
Seth Lerer -- Children's Literature, A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter
The photo was taken in a forest in Rääsepori; Finland.
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Sara Maitland and The Northern Forests
"Forests to these northern European peoples were dangerous and generous, domestic and wild, beautiful and terrible. And the forests were the terrain out of which fairy stories, one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, evolved. The mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forest are both the backgound to and the source of these tales."
The above quote is from a wonderful book by Sara Maitland, Gossip From The Forest, The Tangled Roots Of Our Forests and Our Fairytales. Maitland writes about forests with insights and knowledge. She visits and camps in 12 UK forests, one each month, all with a history, and she rewrites 12 Grimm tales, one for each forest. The history and ecology of each forest, past and present, comes alive in this remarkable, lovely, book.
Fairy Tales from Sara Maitland's Forests
The rewritten fairy tales from this book that I have read thus far are imaginative and very well written -- they flow -- while honoring the concept(s) and core of the originals; the "gifts and perils" of the forest are woven into the stories.
For instance,The Seven Swan's Sister, rewritten by Maitland, contains the primary plot elements of the original, but the focus of the tale is now on the ordeal of the courageous sister, a "young woman with a fierce integrity". Throughout the tale, she embodies hope, ultimately freeing her brothers from the spell. The forest protects, shelters, and nurtures her for much of the story.
Here is a link to Gossip From The Forest.
Here is a link to an article Maitland wrote on the Top Ten Books Of the Forest.
The illustration from the Seven Swan's Sister is by Mercer Mayer.
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The Great Forests
Here is a link to an awesome video of the great forests of Finland. The music, inspired by the forests, is Finlandia, by Sibelius. There is no narration. Time: 9:37
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Almost Beyond Belief
Ruth Franklin is from a family of Holocaust survivors. Growing up, she heard stories and had experiences that left her with unresolved thoughts and emotions. The Diary of Young Girl, by Anne Frank, was a very important book in her life. Franklin's literary accomplishments are many and include the much lauded, A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truths in Holocaust Fiction (2010).
In a provocative New Yorker article entitled, Transported, How should children's books deal with the Holocaust?, she quotes this telling observation by scholar and author Jack Zipes: "Both the oral and literary forms of the fairy tale are grounded in history: They emanate from specific struggles to humanize bestial and barbaric forces, which have terrorized our minds and communities in concrete ways."
Franklin's article is comprehensive and deals head on with the basic problem: "The essential difficulty in writing convincing fiction about the Holocaust is that the events are so horrific that they seem almost beyond belief. What if the best way to make them feel real is to render them through the realm of imagination?" She writes that this was the solution that Jane Yolen found with her breakthrough book, The Devil's Arithmetic (1988).
Four years later, she published Briar Rose, a rewritten version of the centuries old tale first made famous by the Grimms, wherein the tale of Sleeping Beauty becomes a template for this version of the story where fantasy frames the horrific events of Chelmno.
In March, 2018, 30 years after the publication of The Devil's Arithmetic, Yolen has published her third Holocaust novel, Mapping the Bones. "Although it uses “Hansel and Gretel” as a loose model, just as “Briar Rose” used “Sleeping Beauty,” the fantastical element operates mostly at the level of allusion, and the book unfolds as a historical novel."
Franklin concludes her exceptional article in part by quoting an Afterward written by Yolen for The Devil's Arithmetic: “ 'Fiction cannot recite the numbing numbers, but it can be that witness, that memory.' We may emerge from these books without grasping the true horror of their stories. But at least we’ve learned how to listen to them."
The top photo is from the movie The Devil's Arithmetic.
Here is a link to the trailer for the movie
Here is a link to the Partisan Waltz, music of the Polish Partisan's who fought the Nazis: Partisan Waltz
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Reading Briar Rose Today
After reading Nancy Franklin's article, I felt compelled to read Briar Rose. I am not from a family of Holocaust survivors; however, I have naturally had compassion for everyone who suffered because of those horrendous events of WW2, And I had friends who lost many cousins, aunts and uncles in the holocaust.
I have now read Jane Yolen's Briar Rose. It is a compelling book; a unique achievement, a timeless crossover YA novel. A brilliant revision of Sleeping Beauty. There were several moments in the story that touched and moved me deeply. Yolen's ability to deal with the horrific events in a balanced way is remarkable.
The photo is of children who suvived the holocaust. Lambach Camp, Germany.
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Folklore Is a Reflection
"From mouth to ear to mouth, the old tales went. It was a generational art, a regenerational art, passed on and on. Each story was a cultural heirloom, preserving traditions in strange and sometimes original ways. Cinderella, arising from somewhere in preliterate China, brought along vestiges of footbinding with its emphasis on the tiny shoe. The briar in Sleeping Beauty encapsulated the Druidic language of trees, which sees the briar as signifying eroticism….Folklore reflects the society that creates it."
Jane Yolen Courtesy of Terri Windling
The illustration of Puss and Boots is by Carl Ofterdinger.
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MOVIES
Smallfoot The trailer looks like simple fun. The critics are mixed. : Here is the Critic's Concensus from Rotten Tomatoes: "Smallfoot offers a colorful distraction that should keep younger viewers entertained - and a story whose message might even resonate with older audiences. Here is link to the trailer: Smallfoot
The illustration is from Mary and the Witch's Flower
Mary Poppins returns for Christmas. Here is the trailer.
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Refugees and Migrants in Children's Books...
Monica Edinger has a wonderful blog: Educating Alice. She is a fourth grade teacher in New York City, and an authority on children's literature. She is also the author of “Africa Is My Home: A Child of the Amistad.” She recently reviewed 6 picture books dealing with refugees and migrants. The following is an excerpt from her blog:
I had the great privilege to review six timely migration-centered picture books for the New York Times, Please check them out here."
The cover illustration is by Julie Morstad. The book is Camille Andross.
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Little Man, Little Man
"A James Baldwin Book, Forgotten and Overlooked for Four Decades, Gets Another Life." This is the heading for an article with welcome news by Alexandra Alter in The NY Times. Here is an excerpt from the article:
"The story unfolds from the perspective of a curious, irrepressible 4-year-old boy named TJ, who loves music and playing ball, and navigates a neighborhood where gun violence, police brutality, alcoholism and drug addiction are looming threats — an outside world that even his warm home life with loving parents can’t shield him from...
Now, roughly four decades later, Baldwin’s relatives have resurrected the work, with a new edition from Duke University Press, and it could scarcely be more timely. It’s arriving at a moment when children’s book authors and publishers are more frequently placing black and brown children at the center of narratives about everyday life, often taking on charged social issues like mass shootings, addiction and police violence against African-American youth. They are finding an avid audience among young readers growing up in an increasingly diverse nation.
Some Baldwin fans and scholars hope that with the new edition, Little Man, Little Man will rightfully assume its place in the canon of African-American children’s literature, alongside works by Langston Hughes, Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers and John Steptoe."
The photo of boys in Harlem is by Ruth Bernhard.
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LitWorld Opens the Reading Door
"Litworld is currently running programs in 27 countries, working with 57 partner organizations.
Our programs encourage sharing stories, building community, and cultivating a love of reading and writing to help literacy skills grow stronger. Literacy for LitWorld means reading, writing, speaking, and creating. We focus on outlets for creative expression, the value of the read aloud to immerse children in language and reading, and ways to amplify young people's stories to dignify their experience and give them a voice in the world. The power of people’s own stories and a wide range of diverse children’s literature are cornerstones of our programming."
The photo is from Kenya.
Here is a link to a delightful 2 1/2 minute LitWorld Video
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The Canine Therapy Corps
The canine/human connection is awesome.
The Canine Therapy Corps, based in Chicago Illinois, has approximately 65 volunteer teams working in a wide range of programs across the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
The variety of services they are providing is quite wonderful. They include: autism; children who have suffered sexual abuse; children with severe emotional and behavioral problems; people trying to overcome chemical dependencies; unaccompanied immigrant minors; hospital patients of all ages; veterans with PTSD and depression; and more.
The Canine Therapy Corps makes an ongoing difference and has eased pain for thousands of people.
Here is a link to: Canine Therapy Dogs
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Parade of Misfits
The selections in Parade Of Misfits give an amusing and sometimes raw glimpse into the life of Cayr Ariel Wulff as an animal advocate. She is an excellent writer who can tell a hilarious story about lobster Halloween costumes, but effortlessly segue into the joy and melancholy of Christmas with canine companions past and present. Adorable pictures are included! -- Cherry Ophelia reviewer on Amazon
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Never Again
I hope that the coming November elections will bring people into the government who will help the Gun Control movement and the Refugee Crisis despite the NRA and bigotry.
Here is a link to a father of one of the students murdered in the Parkland, Florida, massacre. He is speaking briefly at a memorial service. GunControl
The photo is of student pallbearers at the funeral service for their 35 year old geography teacher, Scott Biegel, killed in the the Parkland School massacre. Photo by Charles Trainor Jr., Miami Herald/TWS.
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“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
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Why Am I ?
Why Am I ? – a joyous Yelodoggie Book – celebrates self-empowerment and the benefits of inclusion. It helps children recognize and appreciate differences and to embrace that which is unique in each of us.
Yelodoggie travels far and wide, up and down, inside and outside, from outer space to the waters of the sea –gaining confidence and leaving his insecurities behind – while seeking to answer Why Am I different ?...Why Am I Yellow ?
Why Am I ? opens the imagination and perspective of children to the world around them.
We continue searching for a publisher who will love Why Am I ?, recognize its potential, and launch it into the world. This is a book for our troubled times. Our primary motive is wide distribution.
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Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale
"Banished to the Ice Castle, the King of the North seeks revenge. What better way to get revenge than to ruin Christmas? When Tip and Top, two of Santa’s elves discover that Dasher and Dancer are missing, the Dog Council calls upon Daisy and Bean to help some of their friends from the Planet of Dogs travel to earth to save Santa’s reindeer. . .
There is so much to like about Snow Valley Heroes. . . McCarty has brought together many captivating elements to create a beautiful story. The illustrations provided by Stella Mustanoja McCarty are absolutely stunning and add a great deal to an already charming story." Cheryl Malandrios Children and Teens Book-Connection.
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We have free reader copies of all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series for therapy dog organizations, individual therapy dog owners, librarians, teachers and independent bookstores. . . email us with a postal address at [email protected] and we will send you the books.
To read sample chapters of any book in the series, visit PlanetOfTheDogs
The Planet Of The Dogs series (including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale) is available from many Internet sources and through independent book stores of all sizes.
The illustration from Snow Valley Heroes is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
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"In the world which we know, among the different and primitive geniuses that preside over the evolution of the several species, there exists not one, excepting that of the dog, that ever gave thought to the presence of man." Maurice Maeterlinck
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