Old Mother Moose Tales! Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs: A Maynard Moose Tale by Willy Clafin

Far away in the Northern Piney Woods there lives a storyteller named Maynard Moose. Every full moon, the animals came from far and near to hear him telling the old Mother Moose Tales~~~

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago...
... there was a girl with long, long goldie hair. Her hair was so long that it dragged out along the ground and became distremely filthified -- all full of twigs and wudgies of glop (things that you do not want to look at, much less have in your hair.)"

Rapunzel (nicknamed Ponzie), distressed by the detritus accumulating in her locks, consulted a Witch, who, unable to conjure a spell to de-tangle her hair, consigned her to a very tall tower, where her tanglified mane did not manage to reach the ground and could therefore be combed clean. However, damsels in towers being attractive to roaming princes of the knightly persuasion, one happened upon her and attempted to climb up her hair to the tower in hopes of making a gallant-ish rescue. But because of his lamentable chubbification, he proceeded to pull her out the window, where she flipped into a serendipitously adjacent lake.

Perchance, before Ponzie was totally drowdified, along came the Seven Dwarfs Plus 2--Hyper and Ambidextrous--back from the mines, who revived Ponzie and took her to their dwarfy hovel in the forest to hide from the now distremely angrified Witch.

Disgustified by Ponzie's tangled and nastified locks, the eight or nine Seven Dwarfs shaved her head, and the next morning locked her inside their hovel and, with a warning not to fall prey to any disguised witch selling things, the dwarfs went off to work, Hi Ho, Hi Ho-ing loud enough for any witch in the woods to hear them and zero in upon their rustic hovel.

So, of course, Ponzie opened the door when the Witch came along selling watermelon slices and choked on her very first over-zealous bite. In the course of events, when the eight or nine Seven Dwarfs returned, they found her completely unconshable. Not ones to miss a lucrative opportunity, the dwarfs put Ponzie in a glass box and sold tickets to all the forest amunals to see her. It certainly was a better gig than digging in the mines, until perforce the chubbified prince appeared, astride a handsome White Moose, who crashed his hooves through the glass box and kissed Ponzie, after which she climbed up on his back and rode away, hopefully with (partially) regrown hair and presumably to live happy never afterwards.

This cobbled-together tangle of traditional tales set within the frame story of the bard of the Northern Piney Forest Maynard Moose, Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs: A Maynard Moose Tale (August Mouse Little Folk) will delight savvy primary and middle readers who delight in the genre of a bona fide fractured fairy tale, a mashup of Rapunzel and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with its own glossary of Moosified vocabulary, found, as all educated kids know, in the back of the book, as Maynard's Glossary and Hoofnotes.

Other fractured fairy tales co-opted by Maynard Moose are The Uglified Ducky (Maynard Moose Tales) and The Bully Goat Grim: A Maynard Moose Tale (Maynard Moose Tales). For more fractured fairy tales for all ages, read my reviews here.

After The Ball! Sootypaws: A Cinderella Story by Maggie Rudy

There once was a mouse, and her life was no fun. Her mother was eaten by a tabby cat and her father took a new rat wife with two daughters. Then he died leaving her alone with her stepmother and stepsisters.

The steprats made her do all the work. At night she curled up in the fireplace ashes to keep warm, and so they called her Sootypaws.

But Sootypaws was kind. She befriended Frog and his tadpoles, saved crumbs for the ants and fur from her comb to line the bluebird's nest.

Then an invitation came from the palace. The King desired his son the Prince to find a bride, and all the maidens of the land were invited. The lazy, selfish stepsisters order Sootypaws to wash and iron their frilliest, fanciest gowns, and go off chattering about becoming a princess. Sootypaws rested by the pond and wished she could go the ball.

"You will," said the frog. "There is a full moon and it is a very good night for wishes."

And the moon magic provides rose petals for a delicate dress. Bluebird provides her bluest feathers for a fluttery fan, the spiders spin their webs into lacy trim, the ants cut leaves to shape dainty shoes, and the butterflies spread their wings for a cloak. In an apple coach lit by firefly lamps and pulled by blue-bellied lizards, Sootypaws is off to the ball, looking every inch a princess.

"Be back by midnight--" warned the bluebird,"...when the magic wears off."

Of course the prince is enchanted. They dance and dine upon strawberry cream puffs and fall in love. Of course, Sootypaws is swept off her tired feet and forgets all about the curfew until the clock begins to strike the midnight peal. Leaping up, she loses her greenleaf shoes and is left, in her ashy apron, to trudge sadly home.

"DESPERATELY SEEKING DAMSEL!" her stepmother reads the next morning.

"The Prince will marry the lady whose foot fits the slipper."

And in true Cinderella tradition, the Prince finds his dainty-but sooty-footed Princess, greatly disappointing the big-footed Steprat sisters, and prepares to take her away to the palace. But in Maggie Rudy's brand-new version of the classic tale, Sootypaws: A Cinderella Story (Godwin Books/Henry Holt and Company, 2020), there's a modernist twist, in which Sootypaws, nee Rose, and the Prince decide to eschew uncomfortable shoes and palaces to be free to find adventures in the wilds, living "mousely ever after."

Gloriously illustrated by author-illustrator Maggie Rudy's charmingly constructed diorama scenes with handmade animal actors and naturally- sourced haute-couture costumes, this new reworking of Cinderella story will tickle kids' fancies, delight them with their engaging characters, and surprise them with the inventive ending.

"... full of gentle humor . . . . a refreshing adaptation." says School Library Journal.

Other handcrafted mouse tales by Maggie Rudy include City Mouse, Country Mouse and The House that Mouse Built.

Get Crackin'! Peeping Beauty by Brenda Maier

Mama and Papa are excited as they tuck their three identical little eggs into the nest for the night!

TOMORROW WE WILL HAVE THREE LITTLE ONES!

But not quite.

Early in the morning two of their eggs begin to quiver and and shiver, and one after the other there's that sound they've been waiting for!

CRACKLE! POP!

Mom and Papa are thrilled with their duo of little yellow chickies. Then they all crowd around the last egg, still sleeping, and wait.... And wait. AND WAIT!

Waiting is hard for little ones, so Big Sister suggests a party. They party down, doing the chicken dance.

Still there's not a peep out of that remaining egg.

Big Brother suggests they try riddles. Then Mama decides it's time to read some stories. She reads The Princess and the Peacock and Beauty and the Beak, as the two new chicks begin to look sleepy. Then she pull out her favorite, the story about the sleeping princess.

PEEP!

That peep seems to be coming from inside the egg!

"OH," SAID MAMA. "SOMEBODY LIKES THIS STORY!"

The third egg cracks, and out steps their own little Peeping Beauty! But that's not ALL. There's another surprise in store for youngsters, in Brenda Maier's, Peeping Beauty (Aladdin Books, 2019). There're plenty of chicks hatching, and who isn't ready for a change of season, with its new chicks and lambs and bunnies and budding flowers, and a spot of wordplay by author Maier. Artist Zoe Waring pulls out all the stops with her fluffy chicks and pastel Easter egg palette in a funny springtime readalong for young readers.

Classics Illustrated: Snow White (The Classic Edition) by the Brothers Grimm; illustrated by Charles Santore

"Oh, if I only had a child as white as snow, as red as this blood, as black as this window frame!"

A young queen seated before a snowy window pricks her finger with her embroidery needle and makes a wish for her unborn child, little knowing that the beauty she wishes for her will be a sort of curse to her young daughter. The young queen mother dies soon after the birth of her lovely daughter, and when the King remarries, he chooses a handsome but fatally envious woman who fears the child's beauty will eclipse her own, and eventually
arranges for the murder of the child called Snow White.

So begins the Grimm Brothers' timeless tale of beauty, jealousy, and murderous hate, in which in the end evil is offset by the power of kindness, virtue, and love.

A medieval story, full of a scheming stepmother who arranges the death of her only rival, her beautiful stepdaughter, Snow White, this tale of malevolent envy represented by the evil queen, and innocent goodness, symbolized in Snow White's loveliness, the empathy of the huntsman, and the dwarfs' loyalty, is retold in traditional language and the stunning illustrations of noted artist Charles Santore in his forthcoming Snow White (Applesauce/Cider Mill Press, 2019). With great attention to the dress, trappings, and traditional symbolism of medieval palace and cottage life, the artist has indeed created a "classic edition," one which belongs with the likes of Nancy Ekholm Berkert's softly stylized and more diaphanous illustrations in her Caldecott-winning Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm (Sunburst Book). In this edition Santore's illustrations have the all-too-human but luminous look of an illuminated manuscript in the evergreen story of good and evil in which virtue cannot die, but merely awaits its rebirth. A first purchase for libraries and a memorable gift for serious fans of the Brothers Grimm.

You Go, Girls! Not One Damsel In Distress by Jane Yolen

The title of Jane Yolen's new edition of Not One Damsel in Distress: Heroic Girls from World Folklore (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018) tells it all.

In this collection of fifteen folktales from around the world, there are no princesses languishing in towers, no maidens rescued from dragons, evil wizards, ravaging wolves, witchy stepmothers, or devils in disguise.

In tales from Africa, medieval Germany, ancient Greece, the distant mountains of China or the sands of the desert, brave young women combat river beasts, cruel fathers, Sioux warriors, and sultans with sneaky gender tests. These heroes (Yolen eschews the terms heroines or sheroes) are peasants, pirate lasses, or princesses who outrun, out-battle, and outwit their foes. Some are well known--Atalanta, Mollie Whuppie, and Bradamante--and others are not, but all are young women who relied on their courage, strength, will, and wit to do great deeds and help themselves along at the same time.

Author Yolen's well-researched and finely honed narratives straightforwardly take her protagonists and their cultures as they are, without apology for a world in which fathers leave daughters to die in the woods or devilish wizards abduct kind girls. Her heroines themselves make no apologies and take no prisoners, but get down to work to save themselves and others.

True to the folklorist's creed, Yolen's appendix notes cite her multicultural sources and parses some of the metaphoric villains: in the tale "Marsha and the Bear," she suggests that the Bear is indeed Russia gobbling up Azerbaijan and Marsha is the patriot who foils the attack. In this revised edition of Yolen's 2000 collection, Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls middle readers will find excitement and spirited inspiration.

Love Will Find A Way! La Princessa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya

There was once a lonely prince who longed for a princessa of his own, but his mother the Queen claimed the last say on that. And La Reina was picky. Only a princessa of superior sensitivity and breeding would do for her little principe. The queen insisted on perfection; the prince just wanted some affection!

And then fate smiled on the lonely prince.

But here came a maiden en route to her castle.
"I hope I can stay here, if it's not a hassle."

She winked at the prince, who fell for her fast.
"No matter what Mom does, I'll marry this lass."

But La Reina won't give the match her blessing until this lovely little princess passes the gentility test. Borrowing a device from Hans Christian Andersen, she stacked up many mattress in the guest room, sneakily inserting un guisante (a pea) under the bottom colchone (mattress).

The princess was tired from her travels and couldn't stifle a yawn. She promised to sleep like a log until dawn.

The Queen is sure her test is securely in place, but the prince goes to bed with smile on his face.

El Principe practiced his "I dos."

He knew that this maid was the one he should choose.

But young readers will have no doubts that in spite of La Reina's machinations, there's a royal wedding in store, in Susan Middleton Elya's modern Peruvian takeoff on Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tale, La Princesa and the Pea (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2017). Elya's well-chosen Spanish vocabulary makes it clear to youngsters that they're not in Denmark anymore, but the meanings of the words are easily intuited from the context and illustrations, as well as with the help of Elya's handy glossary. Meanwhile the charming Hispanic-styled illustrations of artist Juana Martinez-Neal reveal how this prince ensures that his bride will be the girl of his choice, as Neal slyly shows the lonely prince is seen sneaking a couple of pitchforks and some sizable rocks under the mattress to help this romance along, and the starry-eyed young lovers at last get the wedding they want. It's a happily-ever-after ending in a jolly take-off and a comic tricking-the-trickster tale with a Latin flavor. As a read-aloud along with Andersen's version of The Princess and the Pea (Classic Fairy Tale Collection), this one makes for some fun with compare-and-contrast considerations. Says School Library Journal in their starred review, "This engaging read-aloud is a fresh reimagining of a classic."

The Pullet Princess! Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella by Jan Brett

Snow on the outside, feathered friends on the inside...

Jan Brett's newest, Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013), sets the scene, a Russian chicken coop with ornate towers, settling into a deep winter snowfall, with Tasha, the little girl who cares for the chickens inside, temporarily snowed in with her flock for the night. Largessa,  the old biddy who rules the roost, struts about clucking importantly as she makes sure that her proud daughters Bossy and Pecky, have the best place in the pecking order, as Tasha sits in the straw near the warm stove and offers to tell the drowsy hens a fairy tale.

Settling down, Tasha pulls little Cinders, the much pecked and put-upon little Cochin pullet, into her lap as she begins her story.  But Tasha, too, drifts into a dream-like state, and a story begins to unfold before them all.

... Largessa pulls out a letter from the Ice Palace, inviting all the young hens to a ball.

"Darlings! Prince Cockerel is sure to be looking for a princess bride! Time to get ready!

Summoning little Cinders, the chicken sisters order her to fetch warm water to bathe and fluff their feathers and clean their claws. As sisters primp and preen, Largessa summons Cinders to help dress and adorn Bossy and Pecky in their best finery before they set off for the Ice Palace. Little Cinders longs to go, but she knows she has absolutely nothing to wear to such an elegant event and no way to make her way through the snow to the grand ball.

But Tasha has promised a fairy tale, and Cinders' fluffy-feathered fairy godmother appears in a sudden flare of the stove and provides a silver sarafan dress and crystal slippers and turns a pumpkin into a glorious sleigh, with barn mice for footmen and a handsome pair of gray geese to pull her to the palace.

Brett sticks to the traditional story line, with its warning that the magic ends at midnight, and Cinders enchants Prince Cockerel just as the magic wanes, leaving a crystal slipper behind. Bossy and Pecky are properly put down when their unfortunate feet fail the slipper test, and Cinders rides off with Prince Cockerel to the Ice Palace to feather her nest with her silver eggs and presumably live the poultry version of happily ever after.

The story remains the same; only the names have been changed, but Jan Brett's elaborately styled gouache art, especially the four-page gatefold which features all of the feathered revelers swirling in their colorful finery at the ball, tells the tale in her special style, raising this Cinderella spinoff to the top of the princess tale pecking order. Virtue and hard work are rewarded at last, even in the chicken coop and the old story still has all its magic, set off in this stunning new version by one of the modern masters of picture book art. As Kirkus Reviews writes, "A captivating addition to the "Cinderella" canon."

Sweet Shots: Lola the Lollipop Fairy by Tim Bugbird

ONCE UPON A TIME

IN A CIRCUS BIG TOP,

LIVED A FAIRY FAMILY, THE SISTERS LOLLIPOP.

Never has there been such a sweet act--starring Linda, lolly weight-lifting wonder, Lulu, lollipop juggler extraordinaire, and of course, the top banana of this sister act, Lola, the Lollipop Queen.

But one day a new act comes into town.

Outside the Lollipop Sisters' big top, a theme park has magically sprung up, and suddenly the sweet trio are no longer the headliners, as the crowds turn out to hit the thrilling rides in the newest attraction.

"LET'S FACE IT, FRIENDS!" SAID LOLA. "WE MIGHT BE BEAT."

But does this feisty fairy just shrug and say, "That's show biz?"

Not on your fairy wings! Lola faces the truth, and with a toss or her cotton-candy=colored pink ponytail, she comes up with a plan!

"SO... WE'LL JUST MAKE OUR ACT BETTER!"

And so she does, and with a really big bang, in Tim Bugbird's latest fairy tale confection, Lola the Lollipop Fairy (Make Believe Ideas, 2012), illustrated in a perfectly pinkanista pink by Lara Ede. A companion book to his Camilla, the Cupcake Fairy and its sequels, this is frothy fare for the dog days of summer, and if your little pinkanista fairy fan is not yet pinked out on sweet treats and fairy princesses, this may be just the picture book bon-bon to fill the bill.

Dogged Devotion: Princess Zelda and the Frog by Carol Gardner

"WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME, SILKY PANTS," CROAKED THE UGLY FROG, "IF I GET YOUR GOLDEN BALL?"

"I'LL GIVE YOU MY CROWN, MY DIAMOND CHOKER, AND A GIFT CARD FOR A MASSAGE," SAID PRINCESS ZELDA.

"NO, THANKS, SWEET CAKES," HE SAID. "IF YOU WILL LET ME EAT FROM YOUR GOLDEN BOWL, DRINK FROM YOUR GOLDEN GOBLET, SLEEP ON YOUR GOLDEN PILLOW, AND PROMISE TO BE MY BFF, I WILL GET YOUR BALL."

In Carol Gardner's and Shane Young's just-published Princess Zelda and the Frog (Feiwel & Friends, 2011), the frog drives a hard bargain with his princess just as in the classic fairy tale, The Frog Prince. But in this breezy modernized version, the beautiful and delicate princess role is played by Zelda, in all her bulbous bulldog beauty, gussied up in perfect pink princess style in silk gown and lavender tiara, while her rescuer/BFF wannabe, the Frog in the well, is played by an equally photogenic bulldog, attired in what is obviously a green velveteen costume which leaves his mutt's mug exposed beneath the froggy hood.

In cleverly staged photos, Shane Young has his super-model bulldogs replicate the classic story fairly faithfully, while Carol Gardner's witty modern text ("See you later, Sweetums," croaks the Frog after slurping up the banquet's fine dishes from Zelda's golden bowl) gives this retelling the delicious flavor of full-blown parody.

The Frog is persistent in enforcing Princess Zelda's promise, and that night, when he gains entrance to Zelda's bedchamber, he settles down to snore rather grossly, and Zelda, already an insomniac, fears that she will never sleep again in close quarters with such a bedfellow.

But after all, this is a fairy tale.

A FEELING OF PEACE WASHED OVER HER.

AND BEFORE LONG THE THE PRINCESS WAS LULLED INTO A DEEP SLEEP HERSELF.

"A promise is a promise"--even for petulant princesses--is the evergreen theme of this humorous reprise of the old tale, and in true virtue-rewarded form, Frog is restored to his true nature by the keeping of the promise to be the princess' best friend. And--you guessed it--by morning's light he is transformed into, well, as handsome a prince as a boy bulldog can be, complete with his own crown and silken threads in a happy, BFFs-forever ending in the best fairy tale tradition.

Photographer-designer Young stages the book's illustrations in a charming grade-school play format, with poster-painted-style backdrops and cut-out clouds hanging down on wires in the outdoor scenes, while posing his patient pooches in all sorts of hilarious vignettes in their improbable costumes. It's a rollicking romp through the Brothers Grimm's tale that is sure to tickle the giggles of the picture book crowd, especially those who have already met the traditional tale. And for those who prefer their fairy tales on the fractured side, pair this one with Jon Scieszka's very funny {THE FROG PRINCE, CONTINUED BY Scieszka, Jon(Author)}The Frog Prince, Continued.[paperback]Puffin Books(Publisher).

How Many Is Too Many? Too Many Fairies: A Celtic Tale by Margaret Read McDonald

There was once an old woman who hated housework. One day she began to grumble.

"WORK! WORK! WORK!"

"HATE IT! HATE IT! HATE!

But it seems that this is her lucky day. Her complaints call in a troupe of fairies.

"Your luck has come! Open the door.

Let me in and you'll work no more."

One by one the fairies enter and take up her hated chores.

"Clankety clankety!" One does the dishes.

"Swishety swishety!" Another sweeps the floors.

"Flumpety Flumpety!" A third straightens the bedclothes.

"Clickety clickety!" The final fairy makes the knitting needles fly.

The work is being done, but the racket in the little cottage is unbearable. The old woman finally shouts:

"Fairies! STOP!"

TOO MANY FAIRIES!

But instead of dropping the work and leaving, the fairies begin to undo all their work. Dishes and floor are re-dirtied; the bedclothes and knitting are all undone and tangled on the floor!What to do? The old woman locks her messy cottage up behind her and goes to see the wise woman of the village for advice. The wise woman tells her to turn everything in her cottage upside down, lock the door against the fairies no matter what they do, and then gives the old woman some special advice.

"And NEVER complain again!"

The angry fairies try all their tricks to get inside and do all the work all over again, even calling upon the broom to open the door, but the head-downward broom cannot obey. Then, with the fairies at last vanquished, the old woman sets out to put everything to rights. It's more work than ever, and the old woman still doesn't like doing it.

"Work! Work! Work! How I...

She stopped just in time.

...love it! Love it! LOVE IT!

Margaret McDonald's Too Many Fairies: A Celtic Tale (Marshall Cavendish, 2010), cheerily illustrated by Susan Mitchell, is a jolly Celtic version of the old folktale best told by Margot and Harve Zemach, It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale (Michael Di Capua books) in which a grumpy head of household learns an equally pointed lesson about constant complaints.

Toy and Movie Tie-Ins: Rapunzel's Amazing Hair by Kiki Thorpe

FINER THAN SILK AND
EXCEEDINGLY RARE.

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT IT IS?
IT'S MY MAGICAL HAIR!

A FOUNTAIN OF WONDROUS POWER...
THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO STAY IN THIS TOWER.

Walt Disney's princesses have "ruled" since Snow White first burst upon the nation's screens in glorious Technicolor in 1937. Since then princesses and their like have filled theatres, sold DVDs, and rocked the movie tie-in business. Walt Disney, Inc., has skillfully rotated their prime products in and out of the market to catch each generation of little girls. Nonetheless, the supply of Western European princesses from folklore has its limits--which explains the appearance of non-Grimm-generated princesses such as Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

But there was one Grimm "princess" character that never made it to the silver screen--Rapunzel, the maiden in the tower. But now her moment has come. Never mind that the fairy tale Rapunzel wasn't herself a princess--she finds her prince, just like Cinderella, and that counts, right?

The original Rapunzel is a a quirky character, like many of her princess peers, coming out of a family situation that could only be characterized as dysfunctional--promised to a sorceress as she was by her poor mother in return for satisfaction of her pregnancy's bizarre craving for a salad of rapunzel greens. The step-mother's jealousy imprisons her in virtual isolation from society in a tower, accessible only by the sorceress by means of a climb up Rapunzel's own long, long hair, a step-mother who domination leads her to blind her daughter's suitor to keep her in her tower. In its original, Rapunzel is a symbolic tale probing the dark regions of human desires and drives--not exactly a pretty technicolor story.*

But never mind the dreary details from those fusty old Grimm Brothers! Disney's newest princess film makes the most of the fun aspects of story's best device, Rapunzel's wondrous, iconic, and nearly magical hair. Kiki Thorpe's Tangled: Rapunzels Amazing Hair (Disney Tangled) takes a lighthearted look at that marvelous head of hair, so long and strong that it could provide a ladder to the agile prince to find her and the means for her own escape from her seclusion to inclusion in society. Claire Keane, one of the animated movie's production artists, provides the stylized cartoon illustrations for the book, to make this movie tie-in a natural for kids who have just seen or are eager to see the movie.

Other top tie-ins include Tangled (Disney Tangled) (Little Golden Book), Disney Tangled: Rapunzel's Dream Storybook with Musical Hairbrush, Learn to Draw Disney's Tangled: Learn to Draw Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, and other Characters from Disney's Tangled step by step! (Licensed Learn to Draw), Disney Tangled: Rapunzel's Dream Storybook with Musical Hairbrush, and the very well done Disney Tangled Rapunzel Doll -- 12''. For the purist, of course, there is the classic original, Caldecott winner Paul Zelinsky's gorgeous picture book version, Rapunzel (Picture Puffin Books).

*But then, so are the other original "princess" stories, whose movie scripts utilize these deep emotions to great effect (viz. the evil Queen's huntsman and poisoned apple in Snow White).

Pookas a' Plenty: The King With Horse's Ears and Other Irish Folktales, retold by Batt Burns

Sure an' we're all a wee bit Irish, even Barack Obama (great-great-great grandson of one Falmouth Kearney of County Offaly), and with St. Paddy's Day just around the calendar's corner, there's a brand-new book of folk tales from the Emerald Isle just published. The King with Horse's Ears and Other Irish Folktales (Folktales of the World) (Sterling, 2009) offers a wide variety of tales, from the ancient Gaelic "Oisin in the Land of the Ever Young" (Tir in nOg) to "The Boy and the Pooka" (Glenaphooka), "The Clever Leprechaun," and "Paying the Rent," a story of the Irish diaspora.

Beautifully designed and printed, the volume is lavishly illustrated in full color by artist Igor Oleynikov--who doesn't much sound like a son of the Auld Sod either, but begorra, O'Leynikov and O'Bama might just be marchin' together in the parade come March 17!

Other titles which will get us wearin' the green include Kitty Nash's Irish Blessings: An Illustrated Edition, Carolyn White's A History of Irish Fairies, Jeremiah Curtin's Irish Tales of the Fairies and of the Ghost World. and Kathleen Krull's Pot o' Gold, A: A Treasury of Irish Stories, Poetry, Folklore, and (of Course) Blarney.