Fairy Tales Retold from BBC on DVD

For the last few years, the BBC has been airing modernized movie-length retellings of classic literature. First was Canterbury Tales in 2003 which hasn't been released stateside. That was followed by Shakespeare ReTold (US link and UK link) which also aired on BBC America.

Most recently, the series offered Fairy Tales in 2008 which included movie treatments of Cinderella, Rapunzel, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Emperor's New Clothes. For some reason, the DVD set for Fairy Tales [2008] has never been released in the states, but it is available at over well over 50% (63% off at the time of this writing) from Amazon.co.uk right now. Actually, all three series are listed at deep discounts for a short time if any of the above interest you. Just follow the links provided.

I haven't seen these movies but have been eager to see them for well over a year since they were first announced. The DVDs from AmazonUK are Region 2 but if you have a region free player, they should play without a problem.

Here's a link to the original press releases about The Series, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Billy Goat.

Fairy Tales and SarahPhotoGirl

What do you get when you inspire a rock photographer with fairy tales? Some fun, kitcshy and clever images to enjoy, of course. SarahPhotoGirl has a new exhibit featuring fairy tale imagery (some old and some new fairy tales) displayed at Castle Howard in York in Once Upon A Time...with Yorkshire Coast College. The display supplements another exhibit at the castle, Sing A Song Of Sixpence: Children’s Picture Books.

The photos have been inspired by some of her other recent work, two of which are my favorites of what I've seen of hers: Down the Rabbit Hole and Painting Tulips. The latter was inspired by Pushing Daisies, my most lamented casualty of network television cancellations and my favorite show in years along with Big Bang Theory. Yes, years. Alas...



Anyway, to encourage you to explore Sarah's work, I won't post the Down the Rabbit Hole. Go find it on her Flickr site or professional website. You can read more about her work on her blog. You can also read more about the exhibit at Sarah continues fairytale career, an article on the Scarborough Evening News site.

Video Games: Fairytale Fights

Oh me, oh my. Fairytale Fights is a new video game to be released for multiple platforms on November 10, 2009 just in time for the holiday season. The game was announced at E3 and is now available for preorder through Amazon and other sites. (Here are links to various platforms if you're interested: PS3, XBox 360, Windows.)

Here's the official game description from PlayLogic:

Explore the darker side of your favorite fairytale characters in this Hack'N'Slash gore-fest platform adventure! Fairytale Fights is a truly twisted hack'n'slash platform adventure where players assume the role of a much-loved fairytale character (Little Red Riding Hood, Jack & The Beanstalk, The Naked King or Snow White), whose glory days have long since passed. While embarking on a seemingly innocent journey to save a colorful fantasy world from certain disaster, players traverse a series of colourful and enthralling levels filled to the brim with action-packed combat and fairytale-style storylines. Luckily, many different weapons lay strewn throughout the fairytale kingdom, which players can use to slice and dice their way through swathes of cute fluffy bunnies and imposing enemies.

I'm guessing the Naked King is the Emperor from Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. If so, this is the first time I know of him being used in a video game of this nature. I'm rather fascinated by the concept, I admit. I would have imagined another character instead, perhaps Puss in Boots or even Hansel or the Frog King.

If you want to read more about the game play--I'm not a big game player so I'm only half literate in that language--visit Playstation Life's review at: Fairytale Fights: Putting a Demonic Twist on Your Childhood. The characters are funny although only the girls have been released so far.

I'm curious to see how this game sells and is received. I'm not going to debate the violence discussion that may arise. Fairy tales are quite bloody and to me make a rather obvious choice for video game violence, if one is into that kind of stuff. More than anything I am amused and bemused by the game. Of course, this violence is quite different, but I'm interested to see what the game play is like.

In the News: Modernising Fairy Tales

Ending today, Shine Week is a national festival celebrating the talents of young adults in the UK. I discovered an article with a slightly different twist on the usual plays and mock trials about justice that borrow from fairy tales for storylines. Here's a quote from the article which explains this twist better than I can.

Students in Year 10 have been adapting traditional fairytales into a modern play showing the real consequences of crime.

The pupils have taken the likes of Little Red Riding Hood to show what trouble can happen to granny and Cinderella to show what happens if a tagged criminal does not meet a curfew.

It is the third year the school has used drama to show real issues related to crime and antisocial behaviour.

You can read the entire article here: Gateacre school modernises fairytales for Shine Week.

I'd never even likened Cinderella's midnight deadline to meeting a curfew. Not sure how I missed that obvious possibility with the story. I think it's a great concept and only wish I could see the play myself.

I love the way fairy tales are used over and over again to teach so many different concepts and ideas. From math to law to history, the possibilities seem to be endless.

Bargain Fairy Tale Books

SurLaLune has two exclusive coupon codes for Bookcloseouts.com that expire on August 5. Bookcloseouts sells remaindered and overstock books at great prices. It's like shopping in the bargain section at Barnes and Noble but with a much bigger selection. For example, if you search for "fairy tales," over 200unique titles are listed.


I have been shopping at Bookcloseouts.com for almost as long as I've been shopping at Amazon.com. I encourage buying new books because authors receive royalties from the sales and the sales encourage publishers to publish more titles.


Sometimes, however, I have found out-of-print titles at Bookcloseouts.com as well as some great deals on books I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. Bargain books also give you the opportunity to try new authors and books you might not read otherwise due to budget constraints. It's also a great way to pick up extra copies for gifts. I often buy picture books and easy readers for the children in my life so that they have a few extra reading options in their own homes. Just be sure if you fall in love with an author to pick up his or her next title to support them. They need us to buy their books so future ones can be published.


All of the book images in this post link to great books available on the site. I'm only listing those with a higher inventory so be sure to do a search on your own to find great books with less than ten copies remaining.


Code: SurLaLune-5
Password: bookcloseouts.com
Details: $5 off purchase of $35 or more
Expires: Aug 05, 2009


Code: SurLaLune-10
Password: bookcloseouts.com
Details: $10 off purchase of $65 or more
Expires: Aug 05, 2009


If you visit Bookcloseouts.com through a SurLaLune link, SurLaLune also gets a small percentage of your purchase which goes towards supporting the site. The site doesn't get any credit for the coupon codes, those were just gifts from Bookcloseouts for being a longtime affiliate of their store.

Fairy Tales Charm Bracelet

In a previous post about Little Red Riding Hood jewelry, I mentioned my fairy tale charm bracelet. I pulled it out to wear it recently, something I haven't done in a few years. It was a favorite piece of jewelry when I was regularly presenting storytimes and working with children as a librarian. I added to it over a year or so when SurLaLune was young, often buying a charm to commemorate the addition of another tale to the site or receiving one as a gift.

The bracelet also makes a fun storytelling device, letting a child choose a charm and then telling her the story that goes with it. Of course, several of the charms represent more than one story, but that only makes it more fun.

While my bracelet is overfull and will not be added to--believe me I know it looks like a jumbled mess in the picture above--I went searching on Amazon for more charms to see what was now available. I consequently made a list at Make Your Own Fairy Tale Charm Bracelet.

Some of the charms on the list are the ones I chose ten years ago and appear on my own bracelet while others are different. I'm sure other sites have other options, perhaps better ones, but Amazon had a variety and the list making ability. So gawk or be inspired or do both. I didn't find the Fairy Godmother holding a wand to a pumpkin or the Three Bears charms that thrilled me when I found them years ago. But the cat in the boot and others are similar to mine.

If you want play 'find the object', here's a list of the charms on the bracelet. You can also play guess the fairy tale(s) they represent for most represent at least two if not more.

My charms:

1. Book
2. Moon with star
3. Bear
4. Treasure chest
5. Deer
6. Dance Slippers
7. Spinning Wheel
8. Tower (really a lighthouse)
9. Swan
10. Horse head
11. Cat in a boot
12. Key
13. Sword
14. Shoe
15. Fairy Godmother with wand and pumpkin
16. Carriage
17. Crown
18. Three Bears
19. Donkey
20. Cottage/House
21. Pig
22. Wolf
23. Basket
24. Goat
25. Gingerbread Man
26. Candy Cane
27. Frog
28. Apple

Charms I wish I had room for or never found: Rose, Harp, Goose, Sun with Moon, Mortar and Pestle, Firebird, Needle and Thread, Unicorn, Dwarf, and so many more!

Fairy Tale Festival in Nashua

This weekend there will be a fairy tale festival in Nashua, NH. I wish it was in Nashville, TN instead! You can read more about the annual festival at Fairy Tale Festival promoting youth literacy in Nashua. Here's also a press release from the website which I'll copy below.

The 2009 SummerFun Fairy Tale Festival has been scheduled for Saturday, July 11, 2009 form Noon-3:00pm at Greeley Park. This year’s theme is Superheroes. Mayor Lozeua will kick things off with a Welcome Address and a fairy tale reading to all children in attendance.

All afternoon long there will be on-stage entertainment including musical treats from Enchanted, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan Pocahontas, Hercules, Beauty & The Beast & Lion King.

Other events include bounce houses, caricaturist, face painting, fairy art school, food and plenty of games. The festival concludes with a Childrens Parade at 2:45pm.

Fairy Tale Festival is free to the public, as is the vast majority of SummerFun Events. At our major events this year, Opening Day, Fairy Tale Festival and Childrens Day, we will be accepting donated food items which will be given to local food pantries.

What a charming idea! I hope all who attend have a great time and learn to love reading and fairy tales even more. There are many fairy tale related activities all around the country this summer from festivals to theatre to art. All this and no summer family movie blockbuster using a fairy tale in sight until winter...

Evacuation Plan by the Gingerbread Man

Here's a Monday morning, after the holiday, funny I discovered over the weekend on Failblog. The line is slightly different from the source material--no "and" was needed--but the source material is obviously The Gingerbread Man. It's really bad advice for an evacuation plan, of course, but entertaining all the same. Come to think of it, it didn't work for The Gingerbread Man either, so consider it a cautionary tale when planning an escape.

Princess and the Pea Craft

After digging through my files, I rediscovered this craft that I regularly used for Bedtime themed storytimes when I was working as a children's librarian. This was always a favorite with kids and parents, especially after hearing the tale by Hans Christian Andersen. With summer here and so many children out of school, I thought I'd clean it up a little and create a new pattern to share here.

When I used this craft with large groups, we used wallpaper scraps to create the mattresses as you can see in the completed image above which was made for me by one of the girls who regularly attended my storytimes.

For the SurLaLune version of the pattern, I've created some mattresses out of clip art patterns that can be colored. The bottom blank is the base of the bed or can be used as a pattern for cutting mattresses out of different paper. Of course, the bedposts and base also are wonderful when made out of brown construction paper. The possibilities for adaptation are endless, but if all you have is a printer and some white paper, that's all you need to create this craft. Don't forget to draw a pea or paste a split pea below the lowest mattress. Enjoy!



I've made the craft available in full size in three different file formats:

Princess and the Pea JPG

Princess and the Pea GIF

Princess and the Pea PNG

Printing Tips: If you are on a PC, right click over the image to get a menu and save it to your computer. Then use a photo editor program to print it without any clipping of the image. Printing it from the internet browser will most likely cause clipping unless you adjust your printer settings to print to size. Or you can copy and paste the image to a word processing program such as Word and then adjust margins to avoid clipping before printing.

This is a smaller version of the pattern for illustration purposes only. Use the links above to get bigger images.

AbeBooks: Most Expensive Book List 2008

Here's another item I'm clearing from my archives as you can guess from the date! This past January AbeBooks shared a list of AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in 2008.

For SurLaLune, #8 was the most interesting, a copy of Grimms Fairy Tales by Jakob & Wilhelm Grimm sold for $11,388. "A first edition, first issue copy of these famous fairy tales, including 22 etched plates by George Cruikshank. It is housed in a clamshell box." Alas, no pictures were offered--the one provided is actually a volume illustrated by Arthur Rackham instead. However, the wonders of the internet provide the opportunity to see Cruikshank's illustrations for the low price of your time and internet access. I have posted many of his illustrations in the SurLaLune Illustration Gallery at George Cruikshank. These are older scans, some of the first I made for SurLaLune from a later edition of Cruikshank's work.

Of course, Cruikshank was not a romantic and his style is not as popular as Rackham and the other Golden Age illustrators, but he was influential and popular. He was chosen to illustrate the first English translation of the Grimms' work and his drawings are insightful and humorous and had much less to draw from for inspiration since he was one of the first to illustrate the tales.

Continuing Today's Theme with Bedtime Stories Project

Also don't miss the images from the Bedtime Story Project. I admit I'd prefer to have these sheets in real life to the fabric I posted earlier by Heather Ross, but alas, they were produced strictly for this art project, not for retail distribution.

The actual project webpage has evaporated into the bit and bytes nether regions but a few blogs have posted about the project, keeping the images still available. Just yesterday InkGypsy posted about these sheets on her Once Upon A Blog... at Fairy Tale 'Sheets'. (Me waving!) Great minds and all that....

Far, Far Away Fabric Designs by Heather Ross

Heather Ross is a designer and blogger who has a new line of fabrics through Kokka of Japan with a fairy tale influence. Usually anything with a fairy tale theme in linens is strictly for little girls and consequently very twee, in my opinion, with lots of flying fairies and generic princesses. Ross's new line mostly avoids both and has definite influences, especially the Unicorn Tapestries a personal favorite of mine after seeing them in person last year at the Cloisters in New York. (I didn't expect to fall in love with them, but their intricate design, their history as forgotten horse blankets and the outright magic of them wooed me completely.)

However, there are more direct fairy tale influences especially from the Princess and the Pea and the Frog Prince. You can read more about her influences and design decisions on this page Far, Far Away for Kokka of Japan as well a more recent post in which she lists online retailers selling the fabrics internationally at Finding Far, Far Away Fabrics Online. I didn't explore all her links, but found that PurlSoho.com has fine swatches at Far, Far Away.





Thanks to Valerie S. for passing along the original post about this fabric late last year. Once again, I've been collecting stuff for a blog for a long time.