Guest Post: Author Jewel Kats on Hansel & Gretel: A Fairy Tale with a Down Syndrome Twist

Hansel and Gretel: A Fairy Tale with a Down Syndrome Twist by Jewel Kats (Author), Claudia Marie Lenart (Illustrator) was released this past October. Today I have two guest posts to share from the author and illustrator. This is part two, from the author. This new book is the fifth release in Kats's Fairy Ability Tales series.

From Jewel Kats:

When it comes to writing, I have to admit that I’ve been blessed by my lucky stars. I have yet to experience an idea drought. My inner dam is always wide open, and accepting to concepts anew and fresh.

Usually, the unfolding of a story – manuscript – book – whatever you want to call it, comes to me in the form of a well-plotted daydream. Everything and everyone makes an appearance. I’m talkin’ about memorable protagonists, cool settings, and every storyteller’s favorite – the coveted twists and turns of the story! Yay!

Before I pull out my party hat, I have another admission to make. I daydream A LOT. Maybe this is part and parcel of being a writer??? In any case, all this daydreaming means much cleaning and scrubbing is involved post-inner-hoopla events. However, I know I’m onto a biting idea when I’m hit by stubborn “guests” who come with stuffed, richly packed “baggage”. Before I know it, I’m playing hostess to new members in my playing field who have issues to confront. We form a bond of sorts.

This is exactly what happened with little Hansel, Gretel, their parents, the Witch, and the toad. I felt an immediate connection to this cast of characters. And, who—author or reader alike—doesn’t love a setting that includes a candy house? After being unable to leave the fictional world I inhabited via my daydream, I decided to write down what my mind’s eye saw under a tumble of jumbled notes. Next, I pulled out a large sketch book, and started connecting the story together through thought bubbles. Of course, I asked “what would happen if?...” questions with each thought bubble. Once all this occurred, it was time to wheel off to stage three.

This platform involves research, research, research! I personally like reading articles, journals, medical studies, and general interactive posts made by the public on the same health issue faced by the protagonist at hand. I also like to pour over existing fairy tales on the same board – including adaptations – to ensure my ideas are unique and in no way reflect what’s already out there in the publishing industry. I wanted this fairy tale to be fractured on my own terms. Last, but not least, I get my hands on children’s literature that explains the nature of the disability highlighted. In this case, books about Down Syndrome.

Before going on this whole journey, I knew I wanted the next hero of “Fairy Ability Tales” to be a boy. I’d heard a telecasted news report about Down Syndrome on TV, and the report must have stayed somewhere deep in my spirit. I was also drawn to a few fairy tales upon pre-writing this book. So, I think all of these factors led to “Hansel & Gretel: A Fairy Tale with a Down Syndrome Twist”. Now, it’s one of my favorite books in the “Fairy Ability Tales” series. As an added personalized touch, at the end of this adaptation, we learn that the Witch’s real name is, Mirella. The beautiful maiden she turns into is actually named after my lovely mother-in-law who has passed away now. She even looks like her, too!

I knew I wanted the illustrations to be extra special and different. I spent many hours on the internet looking at portfolios of artists. I finally landed upon Claudia Marie Lenart’s work through her Etsy online store. I was immediately attracted to her beautiful work. So, I contacted her, and a connection was made. Her medium is definitely special, and the rich details only enhance the story by bringing it to life.

I’m honestly very proud to have written this book, and those encapsulated in the “Fairy Ability Tales” series. Kids with disabilities are at the core of my heart. My advocacy for people with disabilities comes through the swish and swash of my pen. I let the world know that anyone – regardless of ability – can be a prince or princess of their own right. This book is no different. Hansel is our everyday hero. I personally wouldn’t have it any other way!

–Jewel Kats

Guest Post: Illustrator Claudia Marie Lenart on Hansel & Gretel: A Fairy Tale with a Down Syndrome Twist

Hansel and Gretel: A Fairy Tale with a Down Syndrome Twist by Jewel Kats (Author), Claudia Marie Lenart (Illustrator) was released this past October. Today I have two guest posts to share from the author and illustrator. This is part one, from the illustrator.

From Claudia Marie Lenart:

I was thrilled when Jewel Kats asked me to illustrate her version of a Grimm fairy tale. As the mother of a Waldorf school child, I spent many hours reading Grimm brothers’ fairy tales to my boy. I was especially eager to create the forest scenes.

As a needle felt artist, I create animals, dolls and paintings in wool. The illustrations were created almost entirely with wool, which I custom dye.

I immediately had an idea of how I wanted the forest to look—deep, green, ancient. I was inspired by my memories of time spent in the Pacific Northwest. The forest scenes were created with wool sheets needle felted with layers of brown and green hues to resemble trees. I also used some real tree bark, which I covered in a thin layer of wool as well as some curly green wool for moss.

The story also required two candy houses. To create the candy houses, I spent a lot of time searching through illustrations of Hansel & Gretel candy houses and images of gingerbread houses and old English cottages.

Creating the candy houses was more difficult creatively than the forest. Actually, the idea of a house made of candy didn’t really appeal to me. The only candy I like is chocolate. The witch’s house has chocolate siding, but the window boxes are full of strawberries and cherries covered in icing. The welcome mat is made of s’mores. The house is trimmed with chocolate chip cookies.

I wanted the second candy house to look totally different. It is pastel and dreamy, like a mini fairy castle. The siding in this house is fluffy, like cake, and it is decorated with pastel candy. The turret is made of wool marshmallows and there are peeps on the lawn.

The illustration process was quite an adventure. This is the first book ever illustrated in this manner and I am grateful for the opportunity.

–Claudia Marie Lenart
www.claudiamariefelt.com

Video: Illness makes woman a 'sleeping beauty'

Illness makes woman a 'sleeping beauty' Issues w/Jane Velez-Mitchell | Added on November 28, 2012 HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell talks to a woman who has a mysterious illness that causes her to sleep up to 18 hours per day.

This sounds slightly different from the Sleeping Beauty disorder that makes girls sleep for days or weeks at a time, but probably related. Fascinating to think how this illness may have been perceived or treated in past centuries.

More Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

Photo by Mike Jones

From Stacey Comerford Kleine-Levin Syndrome: British Teen With 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome' Sleeps For Two Months:

A 15-year-old British girl fell asleep in April. But when she woke up, it was June.

The Sun reports on the curious case of Stacey Comerford, who has Kleine-Levin Syndrome, or Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. People with the condition have "episodes" where they sleep for as long as 20 hours a day for periods of time, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Comerford's latest period of time with the conditionlasted two months, The Sun reported.

"When she's in an episode, she might get up to go to the toilet or get a drink but she's not awake. I call it sleep mode," Comerford's mother, Bernie, told The Sun, adding that she feeds her when she's in this trance-like state. "When she wakes, she thinks it's the following day. She doesn't have any memory of it."

There's more in the article. And I've featured this on the blog before--the syndrome that is--but it always fascinates me and makes me wonder how common it was in centuries past.

Grimm Legacies 2012: “Medicine and Märchen” by Valerie Gribben

  

This recap is a little easier for me since I am familiar with Gribben's work.  She wrote a fairy tale trilogy--The Fairytale Trilogy: Fairytale, The Emperor's Realm, The Three Crowns--starting at the age of sixteen back when SurLaLune was new, too. In fact, the first book was one of the first review books I received from a publisher, if I remember correctly. I don't receive many believe it or not, especially fiction ones, so each one is always a boon to my work here on SurLaLune.

Gribben is now a doctor of medicine who will begin her residency soon. Last summer she wrote an article about how fairy tales help her cope with the real life stories and strains of her chosen profession in an opinion piece in the New York Times: Practicing Medicine Can Be Grimm Work by Valerie Gribben. I linked to the article back when it was published.

She expanded the piece with some extra insights and telling of some tales for her presentation at Grimm Legacies. Two of the tales she explored more deeply were Godfather Death and The Old Man and His Grandson (often known as The Wooden Bowl among storytellers), both Grimms tales. The latter has a Snopes page, by the way, which is rather fascinating.

Here's an excerpt from her original piece which sums up her presentation pretty well, too, but do click through and read the entire article since it is still available to read for free.

The practice of medicine bestows the sacred privilege to ask about the unmentionable. But what happens when the door to Bluebeard’s horror chamber opens, and the bloody secrets spill onto your aseptic field of study? How do you process the pain of your patients?

I found my way back to stories. The Grimm fairy tales once seemed as if they took place in lands far, far away, but I see them now in my everyday hospital rotations. I’ve met the eternal cast of characters. I’ve taken down their histories (the abandoned prince, the barren couple) or seen their handiwork (the evil stepmother, the lecherous king).

Fairy tales are, at their core, heightened portrayals of human nature, revealing, as the glare of injury and illness does, the underbelly of mankind. Both fairy tales and medical charts chronicle the bizarre, the unfair, the tragic. And the terrifying things that go bump in the night are what doctors treat at 3 a.m. in emergency rooms.

So I now find comfort in fairy tales. They remind me that happy endings are possible. With a few days of rest and proper medication, the bewildered princess left relaxed and smiling, with a set of goals and a new job in sight. The endoscopy on my cross-eyed confidante showed she was cancer-free.

And her lovely conclusion:

Healing, I’m learning, begins with kindness, and most fairy tales teach us to show kindness wherever we can, to the stooped little beggar and the highest nobleman.