New Book: The Secret Lives of Princesses by Philippe Lechermeier and Rebecca Dautremer

The Secret Lives of Princesses by Philippe Lechermeier and illustrated by Rebecca Dautremer had a release date of this past week and so far is receiving positive even glowing reviews.  I haven't seen it yet in person, but it looks like fun to me, definitely playful with clever humor, perhaps slightly European in flavor.  I'm not a princessy girl myself, but this one looks like it would change my mind for at least a few hours. 

Book description from the publisher:

Go beyond Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! Some princesses are well-known to all children—but others, equally magical (and sometimes, a lot funnier) have remained anonymous, mysterious, and far from the fairy-tale crowd.

Now these captivating ladies are finally stepping out of the shadows where they’ve remained hidden for far too long. With wit, sublime humor, and beautiful art, The Secret Lives of Princesses introduces a bevy of royal daughters to the court of young readers. While it alludes to some of their more famous sisters, this large and lusciously illustrated compendium presents such unique and unforgettable characters as the petite Princess Claire Voyant, who can see very far into tomorrow (but muddles her predictions); Princess Oblivia, who forgets everything and misses all her appointments; Princess Tangra-La, who does the tango, the fandango, and any dance that comes her way; and Princess Babbling Brooke, who chatters on and on about everything and nothing. Plus, you’ll learn about such princessy matters as the language of fans; coats of arms; and how not to offend dangerous fairies who cast evil spells.

Poetic, often humorous, and always enchanting, this is the perfect collection for princess-loving girls who long for more than just the traditional fairy tale.

Review from Publishers Weekly:

This generous, large-format contribution to the library of princess reference works pushes into middle-reader range. The work of a French team (both making their U.S. debut), it features droll copy, sly sidebars (on princess-related topics that range from four-poster beds to parasols), and theatrically lit princesses painted from all sorts of inventive angles. Lechermeier supplies biographies for more than 20 fictional princesses--Princess Tangra-la, who "dresses wildly, without care, in secondhand clothes"; Princess Paige, who "divides her days into chapters and dreams up titles for each one"; and Princess Sticky-Fingers, who "cracks safes with great style"--as well as notes about princess life ("A princess's tears are prized the world over.... Like invisible ink, they are used to compose the sweetest songs"). Dautremer's Princess Tangra-la dances with such abandon that her socks, watch, and jewelry go flying; other spreads show princesses defeating armies with barrages of tiny, cutout words or bicycling delicately along telephone wires. There's even an index. It's too long to be covered in one bedtime, and parents of princess fans will be forced to check for flashlights under the covers. Ages 7–up.

And there is a sneaky Prince S apparently, too.

The book is also available at Barnes and Noble, where I discovered it online, and also captured some of these images as an affiliate.  All the other links in this post are to Amazon or its European siblings.  It has also just been released in the UK. 

The book was originally released in France in 2007 as Princesses oubliées ou inconnues.  In France, the author and illustrator team have a more recent release, Journal Secret du Petit Poucet.  Although the popularity for the princess book has also caused multiple editions and variations, such as Princesses: Livre secret and Princesses oubliées ou inconnues: Tome 1.

(I love this cover.  Just had to share it.  Even though when you look at it, you realize that her body position is insanely impossible.  Unless you are a princess, I guess.)

Jason Hulfish, Mural Artist

I discovered this short article about Jason Hulfish earlier this week, Mural artist brings imaginations to life in children's rooms by Alicia Roberts.  The artwork with the article was intriguing, so I read it.  Here's an excerpt:

Artist Jason Hulfish paints murals as big as the imaginations of the children who sleep among the fire-breathing dragons, open-sea pirates and beautiful princesses he brings to life in their bedrooms.

Although Hulfish admits he was one of those kids who sketched designs in his notebook at school while he was supposed to be taking notes, his initial artscapes were a bit smaller in scale.

"I started doing T-shirt designs," he admits. "My friends liked them and said, 'Hey, can you put this on my wall?' One thing led to another."

Bringing form and function to fantasy takes work. Hulfish designs each room with one-of-a-kind murals, painting each from floor to ceiling. He also incorporates custom furniture such as a pirate or princess-carriage bed that he creates and builds.

The 39-year-old artist grew up in St. Petersburg and lives in Tampa. He went to college as a pre-med chemistry major, decided it wasn't for him, and joined the corporate world for a while. He started painting murals at friends' homes and turned his passion into a full-time job in 2005.

So of course, I wondered if Hulfish has a website.  He does!  See Jfishart.com.

No, really, you must go there.  I only picked the rooms that are remotely fairy tale related to share here. 

But I fell in love with several of his room designs, many of which are in no way related to fairy tales.  There are pirates and oceans and Star Wars and jungles and fairies.  I didn't feature the fairies either. 

The picture above is lovely.  I would probably choose a garden for my walls.  I always like to be surrounded by sunshine and gardens.  My productivity goes up, too.  And clouds on the ceiling is always a very good thing...unless they are real and then you might have a problem.

But I would be tempted by a Jack and the Beanstalk room or fire breathing dragons.  Perhaps I'd choose Sleeping Beauty's bower, but I would probably prefer no people.  I would always wonder if they were watching me if they were life size.

But I know there are some blessed children with rooms like these in Tampa.  Wow...

You can click on the images to see them larger.  Or visit Hulfish's site to see these and many more.

The Aurora Collection, Based on The Sleeping Beauty fairytale

From a press release, Molly Brown London Nominated for UK Jewellery Brand of the Year:

Molly Brown London has been named as a finalist for the prestigious Jewellery Brand of the Year Award in the UK Jewellery Awards 2010. Widely recognised as the most highly coveted awards within the jewellery industry this is a huge achievement by Molly Brown considering it is a relatively young British brand. Established in 2006, Molly Brown London Collections are the best-selling girls accessory in Harrods and Selfridges and the brand is now stocked in over 85 leading independent jewellery stores and boutiques throughout the UK and Ireland.

Molly Brown will be competing against industry giants Pandora and Stephen Webster as well as Hot Diamonds and Italian brand Ti Sento. The 2010 awards will take place at The Grosvenor Hotel, Park Lane on July 15th.

Molly Brown has quickly become the most sought after brand in the UK for quality girls' jewellery. Collections include the award-winning Jelly Bean Collection; this iconic collection won Best New Product Award at The International Jewellery London show 2007. The Aurora Collection, based on The Sleeping Beauty fairytale has also become one of the brand's most successful. The hand-painted enamel and sterling silver fairy bracelets, bangles and necklaces make the most perfect christening gifts; each little fairy brings a special gift for the baby girl - The Gift of Beauty, Love or Song.

Did you see the bit about The Aurora Collection, based on The Sleeping Beauty fairytale?  My search engines did which meant I had to learn more.  Well, they are definitely more in the line for children, but they are cute as you can see from the pictures I captured here.  The collection has three colors and three styles of jewelry--necklace, bracelet, bangle.  You can see more at Molly Brown London.

While the blue and pink are named such I am charmed by the aqua one which is named Peppermint Fairy.  I want a peppermint fairy just for the name! 

And if you explore, you will find a glass slipper charm as well as fairy tale named charms that are rather abstract--such as a snowflake for Snow White.

And, no, despite the name, there really isn't much of a Disney influence, rather than cute little fairies which is very general and not very influential indeed.

SurLaLune is not affiliated with Molly Brown.  I'm just providing images and links as an information service.

Searching for Cinderella

From Harris, Shankman & DioGuardi Guest Judge 'Searching for Cinderella' Competition:

MPI Entertainment, Producers of Footloose, The Wedding Singer, Jason Haigh-Ellery and El Portal Theatre have partnered with Westfield Shopping Malls to search for the lead role in their CINDERELLA, A Modern Magical Musical Extravaganza in the style of a TRADITIONAL LONDON PANTO, Produced and directed by The Lythgoe Family.** November 27 - December 19, 2010 - at the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. The Celebrity Judges will be Adam Shankman, Kara DioGuardi and Neil Patrick Harris.

Can you sing? Can you dance? Can you act? Every girl's dream comes true with this chance to play Cinderella.

OPEN CALLS AUDITION DATES:

· WESTFIELD TOPANGA WEDNESDAY JULY 7th 2010

6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, CA 91303

Celebrity Judge Adam Shankman

· WESTFIELD SANTA ANITA FRIDAY JULY 9th 2010

400 S Baldwin Ave. Suite 231, Arcadia, CA 91007

Celebrity Judge Kara DioGuardi

· WESTFIELD CULVER CITY WEDNESDAY JULY 14th 2010

6000 Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230

Celebrity Judge Neil Patrick Harris

You can read more at SearchForCinderella.com. And the website is very poorly designed, but the competition appears to be real.  The web design hurts because that's what the hubby does for a living.  (It's a lot less glamorous and lucrative than it appears, but we manage to eat.)

On a side note, I don't think Angelina Jolie will be auditioning.  From I am no Cinderella, says Angelina Jolie:

Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie is known for playing tough women on screen and the actress says she can never imagine herself playing a girly character like Cinderella.

The 'Lara Croft:Tomb Raider' star says that she can never play a fairy tale character like Cinderella, who waits to be rescued by a prince charming, because it is nothing like how she is in real life, reported Contactmusic.

"The cleaning the floors or the knight in shining armour? I don't know, I don't think any of them sound like me," said the 36-year-old who raises six children with partner Brad Pitt.

That's about all I have to say about that.  Except for that I wish I was going to be in California in December to see it.  A panto of Cinderella would be fun...

**I have to admit I'm a Nigel Lythgoe fan since So You Think You Can Dance is one of my very favoritest shows.  Even if my DVR is having a hard time understanding my request to record every episode.  Hmph.  And it will never appear on DVD apparently.  I really can watch it over and over again...

Which reminds me that I wonder what the Broadway versions of Footloose and The Wedding Singer are like...

Faerie Magazine #20 On Newstands

The newest issue of Faerie Magazine should now be appearing at your favorite booksellers or in your mailbox if you are a subscriber. 

Here is the description for this issue:

Faerie Magazine Issue #20 - Featuring "Steampunk" - find out what it's all about; Word of Froud - "The Picture of Something that was Not There - yet Was", "Diamonds and Toads" from Heidi Heiner at SurLaLune, All about "Instructions" - a charming new title by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess, Learn the legend of "The 1,000 Islands" and enjoy the photography or Ian Coristine, The Magical Universe of Myles Pinkney and so much more...

As you can see, my column in this issue is about Diamonds and Toads.  Here are the first two paragraphs:

While Cinderella is lauded as one of the most widely dispersed fairy tales with hundreds of variants around the world, another tale type rivals her in its quiet popularity. In the academic world, the tale is classified as ATU Type 480, “The Kind and the Unkind Girls,” although this is not the title of the best known variants. Savvy fairy tale readers will more easily recognize titles such as Mother Hulda (Frau Holle), The Fairies, Diamonds and Toads (Toads and Diamonds), and Father Frost.

There are over 1,000 documented variants of the tale with over 900 alone listed and categorized by Warren E. Roberts in his ground-breaking dissertation, The Tale of the Kind and Unkind Girls, first published in 1958. More variants have been discovered since, but Roberts’ research of the tale and accompanying conclusions are still upheld today over fifty years later, a testament of his painstaking work.

So find the issue and read more about it and all of the other interesting stuff found inside.

By a Woman's Hand: Illustrators of the Golden Age by Mary Carolyn Waldrep

By a Woman's Hand: Illustrators of the Golden Age compiled by Mary Carolyn Waldrep arrived at my doorstep yesterday from Amazon.  I was thrilled to open it for this is a subject matter close to my own heart.  I've been raised by an art historian with many vacations spent in art museums.  I learned at an early age that most artwork in museums is not by women and am thus thrilled when time and space is devoted to work by a woman's hand.  The Golden Age of Illustration is one of the earlier periods in history where women began to have a firmer hold in an art field as well as in the marketplace.  What a wonderful time it was for art and illustration and not just for this reason, but because there is so much beautiful work to behold and study!  Of course, for me it doesn't hurt that so much of it was devoted to fairy tales.

This new Dover publication has 134 pages and at least 120 illustrations--I didn't count but it seems to be more than that--by 22 different women illustrators.  So, yes, this means not a lot by any one single artist.  Consider this book an excellent overview instead.  There is a short introduction to the collection--about three pages long--as well as a few paragraphs introducing each artist, many of whom I am not overly familiar with and some whose work I am.  I'm going to be generous and type the entire list of artists and include links to the ones who have illustration galleries on SurLaLune:

Kate Greenaway
Florence Harrison
Beatrix Potter
Helen Stratton
Elizabeth Shippen Green
Jessie Willcox Smith
Jessie Marion King
Elenore Plaisted Abbott
Mabel Lucie Attwell
Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
Ruth Mary Hallock
Henriette Willebeek Le Mair
Margaret Winifred Tarrant
Margaret Evans Price
Anne Anderson
Clara M. Burd
Blanche Fisher Wright
Dorothy Pulis Lathrop
Lois Lenski
Virginia Frances Sterrett
Eulalie Bachman
Fern Bisel Peat

Roughly half these women illustrated fairy tales at some point in their careers to my knowledge.  Lois Lenski's illustrations are still under copyright and thus not available for me to put on SurLaLune.  I have been planning a Virginia Frances Sterrett gallery for a while as well as Florence Henderson although the sites I linked to did a more thorough job than I would do on SurLaLune. 

  

  

Of all the artists listed here, many have enough work to have books entirely devoted to them.  Of all of them, Dover only has books devoted to one, Kate Greenaway.  So my hope is that more of them will receive their own books, especially Jessie Willcox Smith and a few others.  Name recognition is afterall key.  Publishing is a business.  Although there are a few books about Smith by other publishers, Dover has not published one of their overview collections yet.  Hopefully if this book sells well, more will be considered by the publisher.  So it's up to you to "vote" for collections like these by purchasing this one.

Finally, Mary Carolyn Waldrep previously edited Classic Children's Book Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art) which also contains the work of several illustrators, several of the examples are fairy tales, too. 

Thanks to Jeff Menges for the original heads up about this book!

New Book: Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George came out in May.  As I was looking back over my entries for the month, I realized that I hadn't written it up yet.  I thought I had.  That is what kind of month May was to me.  Of course, maybe I did write it up and my old computer ate it.  I'll believe it if you will.

Princess of Glass is the sequel to George's previous Princess of the Midnight Ball, a novel that drew from Twelve Dancing Princesses for inspiration.  This new one draws primarily from Cinderella. a rather clever title since I couldn't guess the fairy tale for sure when I first saw the title months ago.  (I admit part of me was rather hoping for Princess on the Glass Hill, a Norwegian tale, that really isn't too obscure.  How cool would that have been!  Oh my, now I want to write that one myself....)  Not to diminish George's work at all, mind you.  I was merely waxing wistful.

Here is a synopsis from George's website:

Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program, whereby young princes and princesses travel to each other's countries in the name of better political alliances—and potential marriages. It's got the makings of a fairy tale—until a hapless servant named Ellen is tricked by a vengeful fairy godmother into competing with Poppy for the eligible prince. Ballgowns, cinders, and enchanted glass slippers fly in this romantic and action-packed happily-ever-after quest from an author with a flair for embroidering tales in her own delightful way.

This book includes knitting patterns that are key to the plot. I will also be posting more knitting patterns here that correspond with with the story.

And a review from Booklist:

"On the heels of the success of Princess of the Midnight Ball (2009), George’s sequel follows one sister, Poppy, to Breton. While staying with her Seadown cousins, Poppy’s eye is caught by Christian, the Crowne Prince of Danelaw, and a romance begins to bud. But a maid in the Seadowns’ home, Eleanora, somehow manages to get a gown and attend the ball, appearing to cast a spell over the men in attendance. In a clever reworking of the Cinderella story, George once again proves adept at spinning her own magical tale. Fans of Donna Jo Napoli’s retellings will cheer loudly as George proves her own mettle."

But back to that bit about knitting.  Now that is one skill I have never acquired although I am deft with cross stitch.  I have been tempted at times to take a class.  I have no close friends or family who knit which may also explain why I never learned even the basics although I know about them in theory from years of reading.  George's patterns are on her website, but alas no pictures yet. 

But to end, since I haven't read the book yet, I will share George's reasons for writing the book.  She asked herself so many of the same questions I have always had about both Cinderella and Twelve Dancing Princesses.  As a former ballet dancer, I understand the wearing out slippers bits.  When I retired my toe shoes for good, I promised myself I would never wear a pair of uncomfortable shoes again, hence no true high heels appear in my wardrobe. 

As I was working on Princess of the Midnight Ball, I mentioned to several people that I couldn’t imagine anything worse than dancing all night until your shoes wore out. Then it occurred to me that dancing in glass slippers might possible be just as bad: would the glass bend? What if the slippers shattered, and cut your feet? And I had a sudden image of a young girl trying desperately to hold still while someone molded liquid glass onto her feet with glassblowing tools.

I had never meant to do another fairy tale retelling, and certainly not Cinderella, which has been beautifully retold a number of times. But that image of the blown glass slippers would not leave my head, and then there was the idea that my twelve princesses would never want to dance again . . . so what if they had to? Or at least one of them, anyway. While I was writing Midnight Ball, I also had a devil of a time keeping some of the middle princesses straight, except for Poppy. Any time I needed someone to say something snarky, Poppy came forward to volunteer, and so I leaped at the chance to give her a book of her very own.

This book is also my little homage to Regency romances, set in my own version of early 19th century England!

And I admit to a weakness for Regency romances, so I really should order this one.  It's not available for my Kindle, so I will have to wait a few more days, but I think it just may hit the spot for some early June reading.  Besides my copy of Princess of the Midnight Ball would be lonely without it.  As well as Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, another fairy tale retelling by George.