Magic

Firebird

“In the shadow of King Vaslav’s Palace was a marvelous garden, and in the middle of that garden stood a tree that grew apples of solid gold, each one as dazzling as the sun.”Someone is stealing the king’s famous golden apples, and the culprit must be found. The palace gardener spots the luminous Firebird snatching the apples in the night. The king’s two oldest sons are sent to capture it but fail. So Ivan, the youngest son, must go on the dangerous quest, befriending a gray wolf, winning both the Firebird and the heart of the beautiful Princess Helen. Saviour Pirotta’s powerful retelling of this classic folktale plumbs the heart of human fears, courage, and love.

Chickerella

When Chickerella’s new step mother and step sisters, Ovumelda and Cholestera, move in, life in the chicken coop takes a turn for the worst. Forced to cook and clean for her new family, Chickerella won’t even be able to attend the Fowl Ball, that is, until her Fairy Goosemother appears. The unusually stylish Chickerella dazzles the prince in her eggsquisite gown but at the stroke of midnight, she must race home before the spell is over. Will the prince ever be able to find his love? Only a glass egg remains a clue to her identity.

Something From Nothing

In this retelling of a traditional Jewish folktale, Joseph’s baby blanket is transformed into ever smaller items as he grows until there is nothing left–but then Joseph has an idea.

Cindy Ella

Prom fever has infected LA especially Cindys two annoying stepsisters, and her overly Botoxed stepmother. Cindy seems to be the only one immune to it all. But her anti-prom letter in the school newspaper does more to turn Cindy into Queen of the Freaks than close the gap between the popular kids and the rest of the students. Everyone thinks shes committed social suicide, except for her two best friends, the yoga goddess India and John Hughes worshipping Malcolm, and shockingly, the most popular senior at Castle Heights High and Cindys crush, Adam Silver. Suddenly Cindy starts to think that maybe her social life could have a happily ever after. But there’s still the rest of the school to deal with. With a little bit of help from an unexpected source and a fabulous pair of heels, Cindy realizes that she still has a chance at a happily ever after.

Breath

Elaborates on the tale of “The Pied Piper,” told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hamelein of rats.

The People Could Fly

Retold Afro-American folktales of animals, fantasy, the supernatural, and desire for freedom, born of the sorrow of the slaves, but passed on in hope.

Seven Sorcerers

“Nin had never liked Wednesdays, but this one took the cake. On this Wednesday she woke up to find that it was raining buckets and that her little brother had ceased to exist.” Nin Redfern wakes up one Wednesday to discover that her little brother, Toby, has vanished and no one — not her mother, not her grandparents — can remember him. Only Nin can, and she’s going to get him back. But when Bogeyman Skerridge (who always gets his child) comes for Nin too, she realizes that finding Toby is going to be a lot harder then she thought. Toby is trapped in the House of Strood, which is located in another land called The Drift, and Skerridge can’t — or won’t — help her find him. Left with no choice, Nin heads into The Drift with her new friend Jonas. The Drift is filled with the fabulous and the terrible, but a plague is slowly killing all the magical things. The Seven Sorcerers who ruled there might have been able to prevent it, but in the end, even they have succumbed. Can Nin find Toby before he falls victim to a terrible fate in the House of Strood and before the plague makes it impossible for them to get home? Can she and Jonas avoid the tombfolk, mud men, and various creatures who want to stop them? And what is the secret of the Seven Sorcerers?

Chinye: A West African Folk Tale

Poor Chinye! Back and forth through the dark forest she goes, fetching and carrying for her cruel stepmother and lazy stepsister. Terror lurks behind every tree, and ghostly figures cross her path–but strange powers are watching over her, and waiting somewhere in the moonlight is a hut piled high with magic gourds.