During the time (Reconstruction) when Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) wrote Little Women (1868), America was recovering from the darkness and pain of the Civil War. . .Little Women has touched vast numbers of people, and as the posts below confirm, in many ways, it was a book of depth and ahead of the times. Alcott was a gifted writer with the ability to move her readers. Continue reading

In our era, the reinterpretation of wonder tales and legends has taken many forms, from rewritng the original story, to creating in an entirely different medium -- theater music, dance, film, video, photography, painting and scupture. The results are often quite extraordinary.Wonder tales are alive in many forms. Continue reading

"The idea of linguistic nonsense takes hold as a force in children's literature in the mid nineteenth century and never seems to let go. . . the idea of nonsense as a force of the imagination, of nonsense as a challenge to the logic of adulthood and the laws of civil life .. that was a new idea in Victorian England. The masters of that nonsense were, of course, Lewis Carroll and Edmund Lear." Seth Lerer Continue reading

Fantasy and imagination push boundaries in content, style, and impact. Tales are reinvented. They move into new media -- music, theater, film, dance.There are no limits to the creative mind. Every day reality is enhanced. The line between young and old is crossed. Continue reading

n the final years of Victoria’s reign, however, a writer appeared who was to challenge this pattern so energetically and with such success that it makes sense now to speak of juvenile literature as before and after E. Nesbit. (Alison Lurie) Continue reading

"By entering the world of fantasy and imagination, children and adults secure for themselves a safe space where fears can be confronted, mastered, and banished. Beyond that the real magic of the fairy tale lies in its ability to extract pleasure from pain. In bringing to life the dark figures of our imagination as ogres, witches, cannibals, and giants, fairy tails may stir up dread, but in the end they always supply the pleasure of seeing it vanquished." Maria Tatar Continue reading

The forest offers an antithesis to the town. In ancient times when Europe was greatly covered by woodland, the forest represented the boundary of civilization. The forest was literally a wild place, the village or town merely a place where man had cleared a settlement. There were many who found refuge in the forest, not just criminals, and those in exile, but shamans, holy men and women, poets, freethinkers and of course trolls, elves and fairies.-- Bruno Betlelheim Continue reading

American Gods was a turning point book, a game changer. It sold over a over a million copies and swept major book awards (Nebula, Locus, Hugo and more).It has been translated into 22 languages. Gaiman had touched a nerve with readers and continues to do so today. Continue reading

Neal Gaimen wrote the following statement about hope: "What makes children's fiction children's fiction? What makes fiction for adults? What do people respond to and what do I respond to. One of the keys to children's fiction for me is you owe it to the world, and you owe it to the kids, to give them hope." Continue reading

Illustration by Kjell Midthun. Stories of Wonder After the soldiers leave, there is more food, more working together, and more occasions for stories to tell. This has been true for centuries, since before the Greek tales of the Odyssey, the... Continue reading

Charles Dickens never forgot his painful years as a poor boy working for many years under very harsh conditions. His imaginative fantasy, A Christmas Carol, was a wonderful story, and created great change among people. Continue reading

I have gone on to read several more Russian tales from the past. They are all new to me and are quite different, especially in structure, from Western European tales as exemplified by the Brothers Grimm. I have found them to be filled with magic and incredible, episodic stories. They are involved with nature, mystical events, surprises and danger. Continue reading

A 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..." Continue reading

Mark Twain's writings embodied the still evolving, complex life of the USA in the 19th century. From river journeys to jumping frogs, his 28 books, stories, and articles were written for adults and read by multitudes of all ages. L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of OZ was an original fantasy; it was also a reflection of life in nineteenth century America, Continue reading

"Fairy tales report from imaginary territory ...a magical elsewhere of possibility; a hero or heroine, or sometimes both together are faced with ordeals, terrors, and disaster in a world that, while it bears some resemblance to the ordinary conditions of human existence, mostly diverges from it in the way it works, taking the protagonists -- and us, the story's readers or listeners -- to another place where wonders are commonplace and desires fulfilled". -- Marina Warner -- Once Upon A Time, A Short History of Fairy Tales Continue reading

Asbjörnsen and Moe developed a friendship while still attending school and together they determined to do for Norwegian folklore what the Brothers Grimm had accomplished for German folklore...(they) sought to preserve a national treasure, one that both reflected and shaped a national identity...preserving the most profound expressions of the Norwegian soul...Asbjörnsen and Moe preserved a robust folkloric tradition and did for Norway what the Sagas did for Iceland and the Kalevala did for Finland." -- Maria Tatar, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. Continue reading