Tag Archives: fairy tales

First Details from Disney’s “Frozen” Released

While there might not be a lot of new Christmas-related Disney stories to report, there is one wintry seasonal piece of news: the first concept image and story details from next year’s “Frozen.”  “Frozen” is Disney’s adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen,” a story that’s been in the works for years. Production on “Frozen” has been off and on for almost ten years, with the film looking like it’s getting made, and then being shelved.  It’s back on for real this time, and it even has a release date: November 27, 2013.  Just in time for most of … Continue reading →

Farewell to Fairy Tales

Having worked in TV news for more than a decade I am used to seeing “Breaking News” alerts pop-up on my computer screen. However, yesterday’s bulletin, which read: “Disney shelves fairytale movies” made me realize that the term “Breaking News” is painfully overused, and in this case, inappropriate. Or is it? If you are the parent of a princess-in-training, you know, the kid, who lives in her Cinderella costume, insists on wearing her tiara – even in the shower – and refuses to believe that frogs aren’t really handsome princes in disguise, then the news is probably life-altering. In our … Continue reading →

A Dangerous Trend in Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales

Nursery Rhymes and fairy tales help teach children about the world. That’s the view of many experts including June Factor who has spent many years researching childhood and school playground rhymes and writing children’s books. However the trend at present appears to be to try and sanitize nursery rhymes, for example in England the BBC has come under fire for a rewrite of the Humpty Dumpty Nursery rhyme. Now instead of saying ‘all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again,’ the revised rhyme says they,’made Humpty happy again.’ The idea behind this sanitizing of … Continue reading →

An Exchange of Gifts – Anne McCaffrey

An Exchange of Gifts is sweeter and more innocent than most Anne McCaffrey tales. It reads like a forgotten fairy tale, including the happy ending. The pages have an elaborate pen and ink border illustrated by Pat Morissey. The border also attributes to the fairy story ambiance. In this world everyone has a special gift. Princess Anastasia’s special gifts are the Green Thumb and the Curing Hand. Her royal family does not encourage such a gift. They are not happy that Anastasia want to dig in dirt and crush herbs. They also want her to marry a man she does … Continue reading →

Princess Smartypants – Babette Cole

We’ve all heard the stories of the princesses who marry the handsome princes and they all live happily ever after, right? Not so with “Princess Smartypants.” This particular princess has decided that she doesn’t want to get married, and that’s the end of it. Her parents are confused – doesn’t every princess want to get married? They show her the long line of suitors outside their door. Smartypants agrees to give each man a test, and she will marry the man who passes the test. Well, she’s not named Smartypants for nothing. She devised the most clever test she could … Continue reading →

Do Fairy Tales Exist in the Congo?

Anderson Cooper’s breaking my heart. Last month I watched an episode of 60 Minutes where he reported on the possibility of a world without gorillas because of all the unrest in the Congo. Well, gorillas aren’t the only ones whose lives are in danger and experiencing massive upheaval. Last night Anderson Cooper reported about the women of the Congo and all the suffering they’re enduring. “It is, in fact, a war against women, and the weapon used to destroy them, their families and whole communities, is rape.” ~-60 Minutes-~ He told about the unbelievable violence women in villages endure at … Continue reading →

Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones

In fairy tales, it’s always the youngest who saves the kingdom, wins the fortune, or outsmarts the dragon. The heroine of Howl’s Moving Castle knows this because she lives in the land of Ingary, where not only is there such a thing as a Royal wizard, but where there are things like boots that let you take twenty-one mile steps. Alas, Sophie is the eldest. She resigns herself to a boring life. No part of Sophie’s life, or this book, is boring though. She has many adventures as she grows into her own gifts and abilities. Sophie’s own brand of … Continue reading →

Examining the Cinderella Effect

Our across the street neighbor’s little two-year old girl is nuts for Cinderella. We had Christmas dinner with them and Rebekah was simply ecstatic over the “LaLa” (her word for Cinderella or similar characters) that Santa had brought her. Her enthusiasm reminded me that of all the Disney Princesses, Cinderella always ranked as my favorite too. (At least when I was small. I’d have to say Belle’s probably bumped her way to the number one spot now.) But hands down Cinderella was the one who started it all. Like many little girls, my first notions of love at first sight … Continue reading →

The Frog Princess – E. D. Baker

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess who kissed a frog, he turned into a prince, and they lived happily ever after. Right? Not in “The Frog Princess.” She kissed the frog, and turned into a frog herself. Princess Esmeralda is not your traditional princess. She has all the grace of a goat, and can’t seem to get control of her yards and yards of skirts. Worst of all, she’s supposed to be spending the afternoon with Prince Jorge, and she can’t stand him. When she finds out he’s coming, she heads out to the swamp behind the … Continue reading →

Arthur’s Really Helpful Bedtime Stories

I’m not sure how helpful Arthur’s Really Helpful Bedtime Stories are, but I do know that our copy is well worn. Marc Brown’s twists on familiar fairy tales kept my children amused and asking for more. The book contains ten familiar fairy tales but told with characters from the world of Arthur. Not only do the characters like D.W. take the place of the fairytale characters like Little Red Riding Hood, but they maintain their own personalities as well. So we have D.W. being stubborn and saving Grandma Thora from the wolf. In “The Three Little Pigs” Binky sides with … Continue reading →