Folklore Magic

This revised, expanded, and updated edition of the 1979 landmark Breaking the Magic Spell examines the enduring power of fairy tales and the ways they invade our subjective world. In seven provocative essays, Zipes discusses the importance of investigating oral folk tales in their socio-political context and traces their evolution into literary fairy tales, a metamorphosis that often diminished the ideology of the original narrative.

The last thing Mason Starling remembers is the train crossing a bridge. An explosion...a blinding light...then darkness. Now she is alone, stranded in Asgard - the realm of Norse legend - and the only way for her to get home is to find the Spear of Odin, a powerful relic left behind by vanished gods. The Fennrys Wolf knows all about Asgard. He was once trapped there. And he'll do whatever it takes to find the girl who's stolen his heart and bring her back - even if it means a treacherous descent into the Underworld.

In a thoughtless, final act of destruction, humans wake the one creature of legend that they have no protection against...>Years after the complete subjugation of the human race, Derek, heir of the Dragon Queen, and Cecily, create a tentative friendship. But something, or someone, is stalking the human enclave. Cecily and Derek must find out who and why, before they're next...

Subtitled Fantasy, Faerie, and Folklore in the Literature of Childhood, this small book of essays was first my position papers for the EdD I never quite got. Originally published in hardcover by Philomel and then brought out a few years later in a trade paperback, this book of essays has become well identified with me. And the phrase, "Touch magic, pass it on" shows up in the oddest places. After five years out of print, the book in an expanded and revised edition has been reissued by the folklore publisher August House.

Here are four of Hans Christian Andersen’s best-loved short stories, specially adapted for young children and read by some of Britain’s most well-known actors. The Brave Tin Soldier: A one-legged toy soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina. Thumbelina: A tiny but beautiful girl grows from a barleycorn which has been enchanted by a witch. The Nightingale: An emperor prefers a sparkling mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale. The Ugly Duckling: A little bird is called ugly by others until he matures into a swan.

When a young police officer hears a mysterious song one day, he discovers Rapunzel, a young girl with long hair living alone in a tall city tower. But before the officer can save her, Rapunzel disappears. Will he be able to find her again?