Search Results for: mouse with the question

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck

Do you know the Great Truth and the Central Secret of the British Empire? Probably not, if you’re human like me, so here it is:

FOR EVERY JOB A HUMAN HOLDS, THERE IS A MOUSE WITH THE SAME JOB, AND DOING IT BETTER.

So, there are needlemice and coachmice and guard mice–all sorts of mice, each with his or her own job, mirroring that of the humans who live in the houses, and palaces, of England. Unfortunately for the protagonist of this story, although he is a mouse, he is a very small mouse with no job and no name. Some of the other mice call him Mouse Minor because he is so small, but that’s not really a name. And our narrator has something of an identity crisis: he’s full of questions and gets very few answers from his aunty, Head Needlemouse Marigold.

I loved that fact that this book is full of repetitive motifs and running gags and just gentle humor. The mouse world itself is delightful to explore. Set down in the secret, hidden pockets of Victorian England where Queen Victoria is about to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee: Sixty Years Upon the Throne, the mice study in schools, sew costumes and uniforms, pledge service to the Queen, and generally keep themselves hidden from but indispensable to humans. When Mouse Minor asks about his name, he is told several times that “Nameless is Blameless”, as if that settles the question. His tail, shaped like a question mark, emphasizes all of the questions that Mouse Minor entertains and asks incessantly of himself and of everyone else. Not that he gets any answers–until the end of the story.

Illustrator Kelly Murphy is the same artist who illustrated Elise Broach’s Masterpiece, another book about a tiny creature in a human-sized world, and her illustrations are detailed, vivid, and uite a complement to the story. Note particularly page 121, “a fall from this height would do me in”: Mouse Minor is in the foreground of the picture, being dangled by some unknown flying creature from a great height above a human ballroom where tiny human dancers are bowing and dancing in courtly fashion. Then on page 140, we get to view an illustration of Queen Victoria herself, in all her (faded) glory.

I definitely recommend this book for a Cybils nomination.

Cybils category for nomination in October: Middle Grade Speculative Fiction.

The Roquefort Gang by Sandy Clifford

Apr27

We’re three for one
and one for three.
The Roquefort Gang
is who we are!
Though danger’s near
we think not twice
What’s there to fear?
ARE WE NOT MICE?

What is it about mice? They make excellent book characters. Illustrators can dress them up in all sorts of costumes, and authors can give them human personalities and have them walk around on their hind legs while brandishing swords or canes or other tools and weapons with their tiny front paws. They’re just cute little animals—at least as anthropomorphized in books. Favorite mouse characters include Reepicheep (Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis), Stuart Little (E.B. White), Bernard and Bianca (The Rescuers by Margery Sharp), Ralph S. Mouse (Beverly Cleary), Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate diCamillo, Mouse Minor (The Mouse With the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck), Ben Franklin’s mouse friend Amos (Ben and Me by Robert Lawson), Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman, Mary Mouse (The Orphan and the Mouse by Martha Freeman).

Of course, there are many, many more. And now Giovanni, Sid, and Marlowe, the three mice of the Roquefort Gang, join the crowd of my favorite mouse characters. In this short book, 79 pages, the French immigrant mouse, Nicole, meets the Roquefort Gang in the dangerous Wild-berry Lot, and the four mice go on a rescue mission, similar to the one in the book/movie 101 Dalmatians or in Mrs. Frisby.

For any reader who might enjoy the books in the list above and others like them, The Roquefort Gang would be an easy read in this same category. I thought it was lots of fun, and I was sorry to see that Ms. Clifton only wrote this one book about the gang. It was interesting to me to see, however, that CBS had a Saturday morning animated series called Storybreak back in the 1985, and one of the episodes was based on The Roquefort Gang by Sandy Clifton.

30 Bits of Wisdom and Advice from Mostly Cybils Sources

Feb24

Last year when I was reading Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy for the Cybils, I made a collection of wise sayings and proverbs from the books I was reading so that you could choose your own “philosophy”, a la Charlie Brown’s sister Sally, for the new year. This year I made another from the Cybils nominees I read.

1. “Do not expect to find all your answers in the first asking.” ~The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck.

2. “Economy is a poor man’s revenue, and extravagance a rich man’s ruin.” ~Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl.

3. “Be the cockroach.” ~A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer. (Meaning: survive like a cockroach.)

4. “There are no coincidences. Just miracles by the boatload.” ~Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool.

5. “Sometimes it’s best not to see your whole path laid out before you. Let life surprise you.” ~Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool.

6. “The reward for working hard is getting to do more work. And better work.” ~Andrew Jenks: My Adventures as a Young Filmmaker.

7. “These days may not be the best days of your life, but like it or not, these days will define you. Live them.” Katherine Longshore in Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves.

8. “One failure often sparks another success.” ~The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore by Kate Maddison.

9. “Always be truthful to yourself and your beliefs.” ~The Incredible Charlotte Sycamore by Kate Maddison.

10. “Leading a very public life can be injurious to your health.” ~Bad Girls by Heidi E.Y. Stemple and Jane Yolen.

11. “Just because you make it up doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Bad Girls by Heidi E.Y. Stemple and Jane Yolen.

12. “It’s wrong to believe a thing till your mind has examined it.” ~Home Front Girl by Joan Wehlen Morrison.

13. “Life always goes on . . . even in Troy.” ~Home Front Girl by Joan Wehlen Morrison.

14. “Unexpected things could even be good.” ~Listening for Lucca bySuzanne LaFleur.

15. “Words matter . . . What we say about ourselves matter[s]. The words we use to represent ourselves matter. We have only so many ways we can express ourselves, and words are the most powerful.” ~Lena Roy in the essay “Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

16. “A single story can change many lives.” Craig Kielburger in the essay of the same name, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

17. “When no one knows you’re there, they say all kinds of things, and you can learn from what they say.” ~Maile Meloy in the essay “Invisibility”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

18. “Sometimes you have to dig deep.” ~Alane Ferguson in the essay “Death Is Only a Horizon”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

19. “It’s always worth making new friends in new places.” ~Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg in the essay “Death by Host Family”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

20. “We need our imaginations. There’s a part of us that hungers to be creative.” ~Joshua Mohr in the essay “Creative Boot Camp”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

21. “Sometimes . . . [you] just gotta break the rules. And I mean BRAKE the rules. No, I mean BRAKE. I put my foot on the brakes. NO MORE RULES.” ~Ellen Sussman in the essay “Break the Rules”, Breakfast on Mars, edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe.

22. “Words are free and plentiful. They’re for choosing, admiring, keeping, giving. They are treasures of inestimable value.” ~Hold Fast by Blue Balliet

23. “Hold fast to dreams. You can do this. Not as hard as it seems.” ~Hold Fast by Blue Balliet

24. “Secrets can be lovely. They give you a chance to surprise people you love.” ~Hold Fast by Blue Balliet

25. “Always go to the funeral.” Cindy Rollins at Ordo Amoris.

26. “Waste nothing. Be always employed in something useful. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.” ~Benjamin Franklin in Becoming Ben Franklin by Russell Freedman. (originally from Franklin’s Autobiography)

27. “She who hates, hates herself.” ~South African proverb from A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk.

28. “Children are the reward of life.” ~Congolese proverb from A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk.

29. “[E]veryone has some evil inside them, and the first step to loving anyone is to recognize the same evil in ourselves, so we’re able to forgive them.” Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

30. “Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. . . . But, we can be mended. We mend each other.” Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

12 Best Middle Grade and YA Fiction Books I Read in 2013

Jan2

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, reviewed at Semicolon. What a delight! Navigating Early is just the kind of novel that the Newbery award-givers, who have already awarded Ms. Vanderpoolâ€™s first book, Moon Over Manifest, a Newbery Award, would love. And I loved it, too.

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen, reviewed at Semicolon. The Runaway King is just as good as (or better than) the first book in the Ascendancy Trilogy, The False Prince, which was the Cybils award winner last year in the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. In Book Two, Prince Jaren has become King Jaron, but his grip on the throne is none too secure. Both the neighboring kingdom of Avenia and the cutthroat Pirates are ready to attack

The Sound of Coaches by Leon Garfield, reviewed at Semicolon. This novel is an oldy-but-goodie, set in the 1700’s, published in the 1970’s. Garfieldâ€™s plot and characters and atmosphere owe a lot to Dickens. I was especially reminded of Great Expectations as I read this story of an orphan boy of mysterious parentage who is raised by a common coachman and his wife.

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck, reviewed at Semicolon. I loved that fact that this book is full of repetitive motifs and running gags and just gentle humor. The mouse world itself is delightful to explore. Set down in the secret, hidden pockets of Victorian England where Queen Victoria is about to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee: Sixty Years Upon the Throne, the mice study in schools, sew costumes and uniforms, pledge service to the Queen, and generally keep themselves hidden from but indispensable to humans.

Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan, reviewed at Semicolon. Even those of us who have never been persecuted or made to fear for our lives can identify to some extent with Habo, the albino protagonist of this novel, and his search for significance, his desire to see himself as more than just a zero-zero, the Tanzanian term for albinos.

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, reviewed at Semicolon. Willow Chance is a twelve year old genius, but that one word isnâ€™t nearly enough to encapsulate her distinctive voice and personality. Willow herself has a Voice that wonâ€™t quit. Sheâ€™s a real person, maybe somewhat autistic, but fully engaged with the world. She gets hit hard by some of the worst stuff a child can go through in this story, but she is indefatigable. Great story, great characters.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, reviewed at Semicolon. This new companion novel to Code Name Verity is about 18-year old American pilot, Rose Justice, who joins the British Air Transport Auxiliary in order to help end the war. The story takes place in England, France, and later, Germany, as Roseâ€™s flying assignments take her closer and closer to danger and destruction.

Orleans by Sherri Smith, reviewed at Semicolon. This apocalyptic YA novel is set in the future, sometime after the year 2025, after seven ferocious hurricanes have pounded the Gulf coast, after those hurricanes and Delta Fever, a deadly virus, have decimated the population, and after the United States has turned itself into two separate countries: the quarantined Delta Coast and the rest of the U.S., The Outer States, with a Wall in between and no travel between the two.

Love, Chickens, and a Taste of Peculiar Cake by Joyce Magnin, reviewed at Semicolon. Wilma Sue forms a bond with two rather peculiar and unorthodox missionary sisters, as she tries to figure out just what it is that makes the cakes that Ruth bakes so magical and what gives them healing properties.

The Heroâ€™s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy, reviewed at Semicolon. Prince Liam, Prince Frederic, Prince Duncan, and Prince Gustav are back, and theyâ€™re just as klutzy and heroic as they were in the first book in this series, The Heroâ€™s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.

The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab, reviewed at Semicolon. This YA novel gave a good picture of a teenager who never really did think much about religion, and her own Catholic tradition in particular, until she was confronted with her older sister, a former nun, for whom the issues of religion and God were all-consuming.

If We Survive by Andrew Klavan, reviewed at Semicolon. High schooler Will Peterson and three friends, along with their youth director from church, go to some unspecified country in Central America to build a school. While they are there, a revolution takes place, and Will and his group are caught up in the violence and politics of the country.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in September, 2013

Oct13

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction:
The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail by Richard Peck, reviewed at Semicolon.
A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer reviewed at Semicolon.
Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan, reviewed at Semicolon.
Nobody’s Secret by Michaela MacColl, reviewed at Semicolon.
The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine.
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, reviewed at Semicolon.

Adult Fiction:
The Clear Light of Day by Penelope Wilcock, reviewed at Semicolon.

Nonfiction:
Undaunted (Youth Edition) by Christine Caine.
Death by Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent by N.D. Wilson.
Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community by Christopher Heuertz, reviewed at Semicolon.
Echoes of Eden by Jerram Barrs.
The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef, reviewed at Semicolon.
Real Justice: Convicted for Being Miâ€™kmaq, The Story of Donald Marshall Jr. by Bill Swan, reviewed at Semicolon.
Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team that Changed a Town by Warren St. John, reviewed at Semicolon.
The Girl in the Picture by Denise Chong, featured at Semicolon.
Gettysburg by Iain Cameron Martin, reviewed at Semicolon.
One World Schoolhouse by Salman Khan.

Saturday Review of Books: August 24, 2013

Aug23

“That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit.” ~Amos Bronson Alcott

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Hereâ€™s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesnâ€™t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where youâ€™ve written your book review. Donâ€™t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after youâ€™ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book youâ€™re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews theyâ€™re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

1. Semicolon (The Aviator’s Wife)
2. Semicolon (A Wilder Rose)
3. Semicolon (My Cat Copies Me)
4. Cynthia (All Our Pretty Songs)
5. the Ink Slinger (Orthodoxy)
6. Susanne~LivingToTell (Wounds)
7. Thoughts of Joy (Just What Kind of Mother Are You?)
8. Thoughts of Joy (A Conspiracy of Faith)
9. Thoughts of Joy (Back of Beyond)
10. Barbara H. (Gulp!)
11. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (Mouse with the Question Mark Tail)
12. Lars Walker (Viking Warfare)
13. Hope (Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson)
14. Catherine (On a Beam of Light)
15. Megan at Redeemed Reader (tea picture books)
16. Zoe (Oliver and the Seawigs)
17. Charlotte (The Giver)

18. Abby the Librarian (Golden Boy)
19. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (The Long Winter)
20. Carol – False Dawn by Edith Wharton
21. Glynn (Metaphysical Dog: Poems)
22. Glynn (Four Shorts)
23. Lazygal (Foreign Gods, Inc.)
24. Lazygal (The Gallery of Vanishing Husbands)
25. Lazygal (Lost River)
26. Lazygal (The Devil’s Edge)
27. Lazygal (Dead and Buried)
28. Reading World (Mystic River)
29. Reading World (Bitter Greens)
30. GReads (Sugar Daddy)
31. Eustacia Tan (Identity Theft)
32. Dani at A Work in Progress (A Grave Talent)
33. Faith (Photographing the Adirondacks
34. Lesley (Under the Dome)

35. Joyful Reader (The Black Moth)
36. Becky (Counting by 7s)
37. Becky (Unthinkable)
38. Becky (Helen Lester Picture Books)
39. Becky (Black Dudley Murder)
40. Becky (You Wouldn’t Want To Be Picture Books/Nonfiction)
41. Becky (Now We Are Six)
42. Beckie @ ByTheBook (What The Bayou Saw)
43. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Sleeping in Eden)
44. Beckie @ ByTheBook (This Means Love)
45. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Not This Time)
46. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Unwritten)
47. Brenda (The School for Good and Evil)
48. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (If You Could Be Mine)
49. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The Satyr’s Curse)
50. Swampowl (Stranger With My Face)

Saturday Review of Books: June 29, 2013

Jun28

“One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” ~Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

1. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (The Unwritten .Vol. 7: The Wound)
2. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (By the Shores of Silver Lake)
3. Lars Walker (The Melting CLocks)
4. Tanya (Walking Home)
5. Gallimaufry (Narnia books)
6. jenclair (The Silent Wife)
7. Katherine (Forever Amber)
8. Barbara H. (The Duet)
9. Karyn (Because of the Cats)
10. Loren Eaton (Under the Pyramids)
11. Lazygal (Death is Just a Dream)
12. Lazygal (Death Message)
13. Lazygal (Lazybones)
14. Lazygal (Broken Skin)
15. Lazygal (Lifeless)
16. Lazygal (Flesh House)
17. Lazygal (Buried)
18. Lazygal (Blind Eye)
19. Seth@Collateral Bloggage (Earth Afire)
20. the Ink Slinger (Old Man’s War)
21. Joseph R. @ Zombie Parents Guide (Sir Thomas More by Wm. Shakespeare)

22. Beth@Weavings (Oliver Twist)
23. Hope (The Last Trail by Zane Grey)
24. Janet (Abide with Me)
25. Annie Kate (Pinterest Power)
26. Thoughts of Joy (The Husband’s Secret)
27. Thoughts of Joy (Revolver)
28. Thoughts of Joy (Leaving Everything Most Loved)
29. Thoughts of Joy (Siege)
30. Lucybird’s Book Blog (A Beautiful Truth)
31. Lucybird’s Book Blog (Bing- Paint Day)
32. Becky (The Christian Atheist)
33. Becky (Awesome Bible Verses Every Kid Should Know)
34. Becky (done)
35. Becky (A Blunt Instrument)
36. Becky (They Found Him Dead)
37. Becky (The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail)
38. Becky (The Language Inside)
39. Becky (Odessa Again)
40. Becky (Jungle Book)
41. jama (First Peas to the Table)
42. Brenda (East by Edith Pattou)

Saturday Review of Books: April 20, 2013

Apr19

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors. ~Thomas Brooks

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesnâ€™t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Donâ€™t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

1. Glynn (Everyone Leaves)
2. Word Lily (The Dragon’s Tooth)
3. Seth@Collateral Bloggage (Farside)
4. Becky (Everlasting Righteousness)
5. Becky (Miranda)
6. Becky (Tutor’s Daughter)
7. Becky (Iscariot)
8. Becky (Love AT Any Cost)
9. Becky (Grimm Legacy)
10. Becky (Four nonfiction board books)
11. Becky (Annotated Hobbit)
12. Becky (Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)
13. Becky (The Apothecary)
14. Becky (Rilla of Ingleside)
15. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Fisher of Men)
16. Beckie @ ByTheBook (Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker)
17. Beckie @ ByTheBook (When Jesus Wept)

18. Thoughts of Joy (Marbles)
19. Thoughts of Joy (Perfect)
20. Lazygal (Hour of the Rat)
21. Lazygal (Boy Nobody)
22. Lazygal (Sweet Salt Air)
23. Lazygal (Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child)
24. Lazygal (How the Light Gets In)
25. Lazygal (William Shakespeare’s Star Wars)
26. Lazygal (Asylum)
27. Lazygal (The Broken Places)
28. Lazygal (The Glitter Trap)
29. Lazygal (The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail)
30. Lazygal (Sisterland)
31. Lazygal (The Summer of Dead Toys)
32. Hope (The Setons by O. Douglas)
33. JoAnne @ The Fairytale Nerd (Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo ARC)
34. JoAnne @ The Fairytale Nerd (Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland)

35. JoAnne @ The Fairytale Nerd (INK by Amanda Sun ARC)
36. JoAnne @ The Fairytale Nerd (Love Unscripted by Tina Reber)
37. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Farmer Boy)
38. SuziQoregon @ Whimpulsive (Year Zero)
39. Carol in Oregon (Father Smith, a Scottish Priest)
40. Janet (The Pleasures of Reading)
41. Annie Kate (How Should We Then Live?)
42. Melissa (Convicted)
43. SmallWorld Reads (What Alice Forgot)
44. Benjie @ Book ’em Benj-O (Firsthand)
45. Faith @ StudentSpyglass (The Art of Leaving)
46. Faith @ StudentSpyglass (Why My Love Life Sucks)
47. Thalia @ Muses and Graces (The Cat of Bubastes)
48. Yvann @ Reading With Tea (Silenced)
49. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (Love: Ten Poems)
50. Anna @ Diary of an Eccentric (The Clover House)

New Picture Books in the Library: July 21, 2016

Jul21

I’m going to start posting here about the books that I acquire for my library. For those of you who don’t know I have a private subscription library in my home, mostly for homeschoolers, although others who are interested in quality books are welcome to visit or to join. I have a lot of older books that are no longer available from the public library as well as some new books that I think will stand the test of time.

Here’s an annotated list of some of the new/old books I’ve acquired (from thrift stores, used bookstores, library sales, donations) in the past month:

Sing in Praise by Opal Wheeler. I am familiar with Ms. Wheeler’s biographical stories of famous composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and others, but I didn’t know that she had written a book about hymns and hymn writers. In this volume, with beautiful full color and pen-and-ink illustrations, Ms. Wheeler tells the stories of such famous lyricists and musicians as Isaac Watts, Lowell Mason, Charles Wesley, and several others.

The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola. “The story of the Nativity from a bird’s-eye view.” It’s Tomie dePaola—and an unusual Christmas story.

On A Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne. Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. A picture book biography of the great physicist. “And in his mind, right then and there Albert was no longer on his bicycle, no longer on the country road . . . he was racing through space on a beam light. It was the biggest, most exciting thought Albert had ever had. And it filled his mind with questions.”

D is for Democracy: A Citizen’s Alphabet by Elissa Grodin. Illustrated by Victor Juhasz. Part of a series of beautiful alphabet books from Sleeping Bear Press.

H is for Home Run: A Baseball Alphabet by Brad Herzog. Illustrated by Melanie Rose. Another in the Sleeping Bear Press series.

Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett. A Chinese girl, Mei-Mei, raises “happy chickens” and sells their eggs in the market. The story reminds me of the classic Story of Ping because one of the chickens, Daisy, runs away from home because she’s tired of being pecked and pushed out of the nest by the other chickens. Lovely Jan Brett illustrations.

Stone Giant: Michelangelo’s David and How He Came to Be by Jane Sutcliffe. Illustrated by John Shelley. “On the front of the stone, he drew the outline of his David. Then all that was needed was to carve away what was not David. . . . Day after day Michelangelo worked furiously. Every night he went home floured with the dust of not-David. He combed bits of not-David from his beard.”

Cathedral Mouse by Kay Chorao. A small spotted mouse finds a real home in a big, beautiful cathedral. This one reminded me of Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Grimm

Feb24

Wilhelm Carl Grimm, b. 1786. While he and his brother Jacob were in law school, they began to collect folk tales. They collected, after many years, over 200 folk tales, including such famous ones as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Bremen Town Musicians, and Rumpelstiltskin. Both Wilhelm and Jacob were librarians. Here’s a Canadian website with stuff for children: games, coloring pages, animated stories, etc.

True story: I once worked in the reference section of a library in West Texas. We often answered reference questions over the phone. One day a caller asked me, “How do you spell Hansel?” “H-A-N-S-E-L,” I replied. The patron thanked me and hung up. About an hour later, I heard one of the other reference librarians spelling into the phone, “G-R-E-T-E-L.”

Here’s a list of some of the most famous of Grimm’s fairy tales, along with a short list of books and other media based on each tale. Do you like to read fairy tale revision novels?

Cinderella, or Aschenputtel
The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson.
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli.
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.
Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley. Brown Bear Daughter’s review.
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry.
Hamster Princess: Whiskerella by Ursula Vernon.
A picture book series of Cinderella stories from around the world by Shirley Climo, including The Egyptian Cinderella, The Persian Cinderella, The Korean Cinderella, The Irish Cinderlad, etc.

The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Paul Galdone. (picture book)
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Bernadette Watts. (picture book)
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Jim Lamarche. (picture book)

The Fisherman and His Wife
The Fisherman and His Wife by Rachel Isadora. (picture book)
The Fisherman and His Wife by Margot Zemach. (picture book)

The Golden Goose
The Fairy’s Return by Gail Carson Levine.

The Goose Girl
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale.
Thorn by Intisar Khanani.
The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath.

Hansel and Gretel
The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin.
The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli.
Nightbooks by J.A. White.

Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman, Beautiful picture book version of the traditional tale.
Red: The (Fairly) True Tale of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff.
Hamster Princess: Little Red Rodent Hood by Ursula Vernon.

Rapunzel
Zel by Donna Jo Napoli.
Letters from Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes.
Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair by Wendy Mass.
Rapunzel Let Down by Regina Doman.
Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel by Ursula Vernon.
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale.

Rumpelstiltskin
Straw into Gold by Gary D. Schmidt.
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde.
A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.
Rumpelstiltskn’s Daughter by Diane Stanley.
The Witch’s Boy by Michael Gruber.
Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli.
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff.

Snow White and the Dwarves
Black as Night by Regina Doman.
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine.
The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson.
Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen.
Grump by Liesl Shurtliff.
1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The 2011 TV series Once Upon A Time features Snow White, Prince Charming, and the Evil Queen as the main characters.

Snow White and Rose Red
The Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman.

The Valiant Little Tailor
Mickey Mouse appeared in a Disney cartoon, Brave Little Tailor, based on this tale.

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