When Callie McCallan agrees to interview the rock and roll band Brass Rat for her school newspaper, she never imagines that she might be getting herself into an adventure born out of a centuries-old mystery. But for a band that’s … Continue reading
Once upon a time, there was a young commoner named Christian, who ran away from home, and was adopted by a kindly, if somewhat eccentric troll named Edric. Together, they lived in Edric’s cave, where Edric plotted to break up … Continue reading
For those familiar with Homer’s epic saga, there will be very few surprises in these books, the first three in Mary Pope Osbourne’s Tales From The Odyssey series. They retell, in plain English, without much of the fancy poetical trappings, … Continue reading
We all know the story. Once upon a time, blah blah, wicked queen, beautiful maiden, seven dwarfs, poisonous apple, magic mirror, happily ever after. But who ever actually thinks about that poor magic mirror, forced to answer inane questions from … Continue reading
Perseus “Percy” Jackson is about to discover his destiny. The good thing is that he may very well be the son of a god, one of the many offspring produced by the various deities and supernatural creatures of the immortal … Continue reading
From the master of faeries himself, Brian Froud, comes a follow-up to one of his best-loved works, Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book. In this volume, Froud reveals more findings from the eccentric, renowned Victorian Cottington family. This time, he focuses … Continue reading
Sometimes “and they lived happily ever after” isn’t the end of the story. That’s the premise of Margaret Peterson Haddix’s charming Just Ella, which revisits the classic rags to riches fairy tale to show what happens after Cinderella meets her Prince Charming. … Continue reading
Once upon a time, when gods still strode the Earth and magic still manifested in unexpected ways, when the city of Troy stood in all its glory and the city-states of Greece dominated the world as they knew it, no … Continue reading
The third and final look at retold fairy tales again turns its attention to geese, with Goose Girl. In this particular version, Anidori-Kiladra, Crown Princess of the small kingdom of Kildenree, is born with a peculiar, magical gift, to understand … Continue reading
It just so happens I stumbled across a small cache of retold fairy tales in time for this edition of my column. First up is Goose Chase, which ties together stock elements from a number of stories, including the orphaned … Continue reading
