Cover Reveal: THE BOOK DRAGON, by Kell Andrews

Beware the Book Dragon!

When I joined at Project Middle-Grade Mayhem, I was (of course) a middle-grade writer. I didn't imagine then that my next two books would be picture books, or the I would love writing for this age group that much.

But I do! And that brings me to today, revealing the cover of The Book Dragon (Sterling, October 2, 2018), whimsically illustrated by the wonderful Éva Chatelain.

Here's the beautiful front:

And the equally inviting back:

And here's what it's about:

The Book Dragon, by Kell Andrews, illustrated by Éva Chatelain

Reading is tiresome in the village of Lesser Scrump because the only words allowed must be written in dirt or scratched onto bark. Books are forbidden because the Book Dragon snatches them away at night to add to her massive hoard. But Rosehilda isn’t afraid of the Book Dragon, and she has a better idea for what to do with the Book Dragon’s stash.

Are you a book hoarder too? Confess in the comments.

St Paddy’s Snake Bite Remedy by Eden Unger Bowditch

As today we think everything should be green as the grass is green. Why? And for whom? For none other than St Patrick. Many green-wearing fans think of him as the little buckle-shoed ginger leprechaun with pointy ears and a twinkle in his eye. Sorry folks. That’s not the story.

When we were young, my husband and I were in a band that toured and made albums and did it all with a baby in tow (he took two years off grad school!) One of our songs was inspired by a comment by a friend in the music business. He said, ‘This song reminds me of St Paddy’s Snake Bite Remedy’ and, thus, it was dubbed.

What feels like a hundred years later, I look back and wonder why I never investigated the story. Me? A lover of stories? A teller of stories? And, so, I shall do so today.

St Paddy was not Irish and, in fact, wasn’t even Christian. He never planned to go to Ireland. He was a wealthy young boy in Britain and was kidnapped. St Paddy’s move from the lap of luxury to tending sheep on a rainy Irish hillside was not by choice. But, as he sat shivering while tending his flock, he had a conversion. He heard a voice that told him what must happen. He returned to Britain, became a priest, then went back to Ireland where he lived out his days trying to bring Christianity to the natives. But what about snakes?

Well, the story goes that St. Paddy snake bite remedy was to banish snakes from the island. And, as it stands, there are no snakes in Ireland. Were there ever snakes in Ireland, you ask? Why do you want to trample upon a fabulous tale that has survived the centuries?

We are spinners of stories ourselves, are we not? And we all love a good yarn. Let’s enjoy the magic brought to us on this day. We celebrate in big or small ways- a green scarf or green socks, or bright green-died hair, pick your pleasure- let’s send a cheer to Ireland as we remember the passing of Irish patron and give a nod to St. Paddy’s snake bite remedy.

The Darkness of Nursery Tales by Kell Andrews

The other day my family and I was listening to an audiobook during a car ride -- a middle-grade fantasy that retells a Grimm fairy tale. And of course, the princess's father died right in the beginning.

My husband complained -- he's tired of all the dead parents of children's literature. I defended the plot because that's how stories work. Happy lives make dull books. The main character has to act on her own. She must suffer before she triumphs. She must face conflict.

Still, like my husband, I have tried to shelter my children from some literary losses -- we haven't read Charlotte's Web or The Bridge to Terabithia. We never watched Bambi. We haven't read the gruesomest Grimm tales that fascinated me as a child -- the murdered stepson served as stew, the barrel studded inside with nails.

I remember my daughter flipping through my copy of Sing-Song, A Nursery Rhyme Book by Christina Rossetti. She was attracted by the little girl on the cover cavorting with a lamb, one of the gorgeous original illustrations by Arthur Hughes, the Pre-Raphaelite whose illustrations for George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.

Many of the poems in Sing-Song cover familiar childhood experiences, including many sweet, touching, and funny subjects. But the poems often take a dark turn, familiar to Victorians for whom the living and dead existed side by side.

For example, a poem about a bird:

A sweet poem about sisters that takes a dark turn:

A bedtime poem from which there is no waking:

Children's literature has always dealt with death -- fairy tales are notoriously grisly in their original versions, and the origins of many nursery rhymes is similarly macabre. And Victorian childhood has always been a risky world, where infant and maternal mortality was an ever present risk. Literature for children reflected that then, just as it reflects the darker side of our world now. Children still face risk even when we try to protect them.

I don't like torturing my beloved characters, but for readers, these kinds of stories are better than life lessons.  Encountering loss between the covers of a book is far better than in real life.

Recently, I warned my daughter against Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but she read it anyway and was sorry by the end. But that's how losses happen, in books as well as life. You don't know they will happen until they do.

And when real loss happens, a book offers solace. Others have felt as you do. Others have survived. And so will you.

Mythology and Folklore, by: Marissa Burt

Photo Credit: Raysonho @ wikimedia - public domain

I can still remember the smell of my middle-school library - I can almost see the way the high windows in the center lit up the reading area and how the shelves of books stretched off to ring the room. Because of my misfit schedule, I had study hall - the last class of the day - by myself, which meant I spent it under the so-called supervision of an elderly nun who rarely looked up from her circulation desk.

I never studied during study hall. Instead, I found a place on the floor near the bottom two shelves that held all the mythology and folklore books. I revisited Aesop of earlier years and discovered the wealth of Asian folk tales and the wit of African fables and the spine-tingling ghosts and fairies of Celtic lore. I never quite resonated with the capricious Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, but I gave them their fair due before losing myself in Hans Christian Andersen's complete fairy tales. I'm sure my strangled cry on the day I discovered what really happened to the little mermaid must have gotten Sister Veronica's attention.

I'm delighted to be revisiting some of these stories now with my three boys, and I've loved watching them get lost in the tales. I often read aloud to them during lunchtime, and the mark of a good story is one that has them sitting, sandwiches forgotten, with imaginations fully fixed in faerie-land. I thought to share some of our recent favorite reads with you, because I think the appeal for these stories is for every age range, including middle-grade readers.

SOLOMON AND THE ANT: AND OTHER JEWISH FOLKTALES, by: Sheldon Oberman
"A treasure trove of forty-three religious, wisdom, riddle, and trickster Jewish folktales that have been told near the hearth, at the table, and in the synagogue for centuries. Sheldon Oberman, a master storyteller, retells the tales with simplicity and grace, making them perfect for performing and reading aloud. Peninnah Schram, herself an acclaimed storyteller and folklorist, provides lively notes and commentary that examine the meaning of each tale and its place in history." (summary from Goodreads)

**My boys would have had me read through this in one sitting if I offered. They LOVED these folktales - the combination of sly wit and trickster plot twists hooked them. We checked it out from the library, but it might end up on the Christmas gift-list this year.**

BUDDAH STORIES, by: Demi
"Throughout the ages, moral tales have been passed down from one generation to the next. Centuries ago in China, hundreds of parables were told by the Buddha to his devoted followers. His messages became widespread through fables adapted by famous storytellers like Aesop and La Fontaine. In this collection, the author has chosen ten of the most engaging classic tales from the Buddha's works. Compiled and illustrated by Demi, this wonderful collection of stories is sure to draw young readers into the ancient teachings of the Buddha, teachings that are as relevant today as they were over two thousand years ago." (summary from Goodreads)

**The illustrations in this book are so gorgeous. The tales are quite short but sparked much discussion around the lunch table.**

CUPID AND PSYCHE, by: M. Charlotte Craft
"Perhaps the greatest love story of all, Cupid and Psyche is unsurpassed in its richness and drama. Marie Craft's lively, suspenseful retelling of this classic Greek myth will appeal to young and old alike. And these legendary lovers have inspired forty lush luminous paintings by award-winning artist Kinuko Craft.

Lavishly illustrated and thrillingly told, here is a book to be treasured forever." (summary from Goodreads)

**My kids have a super-low tolerance for nail-biting suspense in stories, so we had a hard time with many of the collections of Greek and Roman myths. This one, however, was a win. The illustrations are indeed lavish, and the story well told. Runner up: ROMAN MYTHS, by: Geraldine McCaughrean.**

TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE, by: Marcia Williams
"Come wend your way along London's Thames River to the Globe Theatre, where seven favorite Shakespearean plays are being performed! Marcia Williams brings to life ROMEO AND JULIET, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, JULIUS CAESAR, HAMLET, MACBETH, THE WINTER'S TALE, and THE TEMPEST, making liberal use of Shakespeare's rich dialogue. With the help of her signature comic-strip style, the Bard's 400-year-old masterworks become as relevant to young readers today as they were to theatergoers way back when." (summary from Goodreads)

**So I know this isn't really in the folklore/mythology category, but this book was such a win that I had to include it. Both the comic-like illustrations and the text adaptations are very well done.**

THE DRAGON PRINCE: A CHINESE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST TALE, by: Laurence Yep
"When a poor farmer falls into the clutches of a dragon, only Seven, his youngest daughter, will save him - by marrying the beast. Publishers Weekly praised "Yep's elegant, carefully crafted storytelling" and Mak's "skillfully and radiantly rendered illustrations" in this captivating and luminous Chinese variation of the beauty and the beast tale. A 1998 Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC) A 1997 Pick of the Lists (ABA)

**Somehow this tale managed to be both whimsical and sophisticated at the same time. And the artwork is lovely.**

We've been aligning our reading with our history studies, so this list only scratches the surface. What about you, Mayhemers? Any favorite collections? When did you first discover folklore and mythology? For the writers among us, do you find it influencing your own writing?

Constructing a Comic Character

Humorous writing comes naturally to some, while for others even the idea of “writing funny” causes stress. Humor, like any other literary technique, can be an acquired skill when a thorough understanding of the rules and tools available are understood.

The most basic building block of humor is that of the comic premise. In The Comic Toolbox, John Vorhaus states: “The comic premise is the gap between comic reality and real reality. Any time you have a comic voice or character or world or attitude that looks at things from a skewed point of view, you have a gap between realities. Comedy lives in the gap.”

In his 2012 novel, The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, Christopher Healy sets his comic premise within an epic fantasy world populated by the princesses and princes from traditional fairy tales, with an enormous twist that is very accessible to young readers coming of age post-Shrek. Every convention and expectation of the known characters are turned on their heads.

Healy’s story features the princess heroines Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. In the traditional telling, each heroine is rescued and falls in love with the handsome, but non-descript, Prince Charming. In Healy’s world, there are four separate Princes that have been lumped together under the generic title Prince Charming by bards that have spread the stories, and each Prince wants his own name recognition. That’s the foundation of the comic premise. The reader is immediately presented with the gap between the expectation that Prince Charming is one perfect, heroic, and handsome man, and the reality of the story, where four Princes are flawed individuals quite removed from the handsome heroic ideal.

The comic premise is given even greater depth by crafting the princesses with personalities and characteristics far different than the traditional. Pushing it further still is the comedic tension created by the oppositional characteristics between each pairing.

For example, Cinderella, having been raised in near captivity by her step-mother, is a young woman who desires action and adventure now that she is a princess. Her Prince Charming, Frederic, is an endearing, but cowardly, fop brought up under fierce protection by a doting father. He has no interest in adventure, but loves Cinderella with true devotion. When Cinderella leaves to seek adventure in the wilds on her own, Frederic, worried for her safety, musters the courage to follow her. Ultimately, Cinderella ends up saving him (and the other Princes Charming), once again reinforcing the gap between comic reality and real reality.

What keeps comic characters interesting, and moves them beyond one-note jokes, is the layering of other elements over the premise to give them depth. Vorhaus provides four specific elements that go into the construction of a comic character.

The first is the Comic Perspective, defined by Vorhaus as, “a character’s unique way of looking at the world, which differs in a clear and substantial way from the ‘normal’ world view.” If we continue looking at Prince Frederic, his Comic Perspective would be that the world is a dangerous place, best avoided at all costs. In contrast, Cinderella’s is that the world is a wonderful place where anything can happen.

The second element is exaggeration. A character that is afraid of the world isn’t in and of himself very funny, but if a writer pushes the limits of that fear so that normal situations become farcical, a space for comedy is created. This description of Frederic from The Hero’s Guide is a fine example of comic exaggeration: “For most of his early years, Frederic was perfectly happy to skip out on pastimes like tree climbing (twisted ankles!), hiking (poison ivy!), or embroidery (pointy needles!).”

Flaws are the third element. These are negative characteristics that create distance between the reader and character, allowing the reader to comfortably laugh at the character without feeling bad. Flaws can also be positive characteristics taken to an annoying extreme. Frederic’s flaws fall into the latter category, as his worst trait is an almost unbearable friendliness and openness to strangers. This might seem to be in opposition to his view of the world as a dangerous place, but again, this creates an interesting conflict within the character. Even when faced with villains, monsters,  and impending doom, Frederic can’t help but be polite. Charming, even.

The final element is Humanity. The character’s humanity gives the reader a reason to care about his outcome. It balances the flaws to enable readers to emotionally engage with the character. Frederic’s humanity is grounded in his romantic love of Cinderella, and the lengths he goes to try and find her. He travels the world, faces battles, giants, and witches and gets so far outside of his comfort zone that readers can’t help but feel for the poor guy, even as they laugh at his total lack of traditional heroic qualities.

Healy does an excellent job of creating complex comic characters, and Frederic is just one example within that story. The characters, both Princes and Princesses, because they are drawn with such specificity, play off of each other in a web of well choreographed, and highly comical, relationships. In the end, Frederic may come the closest to laying claim to the name Prince Charming, but by embracing his entire character he earns a recognition all his own. And gives the reader plenty of laughs while doing so.