If you are a Tolkien fan you are forever stamped by a Legend of the Ring: The Hobbit & Later, in The Lord of the Rings. You may not realize, however, that Legends of the Ring are thousands of years old. “A magic ring is a mythical, folkloric or fictional piece of jewelry, usually a finger ring,…
Tomie dePaola’s Earliest Books Were Crude First Tries –But They Launched His Immense Career – Tip from Tomie dePaola: Allow Yourself to Try
Image Credit: My Retro Reads The Wonderful Dragon of Timlin Tomie dePaola – 1966 Image Credit: My Retro Reads Fight the Night – 1968 Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Image from Fight the Night Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Image from Fight the Night The art in dePaola’s book Fight the Night is a bit…
Who Was Lady Jane Wilde? Mother of Oscar WIlde – Eminent Irish Folklorist
Lady Jane Wilde Image Credit: Wikimedia I research almost every day, and I write almost every day. On most days, I write about what I have discovered in my resarch, and the past two days, I have been researching Celtic Folklore. Several times, writers have mentioned the name Lady Wilde as a source for this…
Celtic Mythology
THE FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES W. Y. EVANS WENTZ Published in 1911 I. The Religious Nature of the Fairy-Faith “There is probably no other place in Celtic lands more congenial, or more inspiring for the writing down of one’s deeper intuitions about the Fairy-Faith, than Carnac, under the shadow of the pagan tumulus and mount of…
Irish Fairy Tales, Edited by W. B. Yeats in 1892
AN IRISH STORY-TELLER – William Butler Yeats “I am often doubted when I say that the Irish peasantry still believe in fairies. [This was publishe in 1892] People think I am merely trying to bring back a little of the old dead beautiful world of romance into this century of great engines and spinning-jinnies. Surely…
What Is A Changeling?
Not long ago, some people, especially the rural peasantry, believed that there were changelings intermingling among the regular people. It was believed that changelings were the children who were left in a household–after the fairies had stolen the child who had lived there before. “Sometimes the fairies fancy mortals, and carry them away into their…
The Legend of the Bluebonnet – Retold and Illustrated by Tomie dePaola
1983 Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Cover of The Legend of the Bluebonnet Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Cover of The Legend of the Bluebonnet Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Image from The Legend of the Bluebonnet Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Image from The Legend of the Bluebonnet Image Credit: Tomie dePaola…
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush Retold and Illustrated by Tomie dePaola
1988 Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Cover of The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush…
Tomie dePaola Changed the Appearance of Strega Nona Over Time — He Dared to Edit — He Dared to Try Something New
I’ve taught people of all ages, and I have noted that most people resist changing their original product–be it a bit of writing or a bit of visual art. [I have taught both writing and art.] People resist changing what they thought were their creative babies. I am studying Tomie dePaola’s writing and illustrating career…
The Worlds of Tomie dePaola
Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Worlds of Tomie dePaola Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Worlds of Tomie dePaola Image Credit: Tomie dePaola on Amazon Illustration from The Worlds of Tomie dePaola “On March 30, 2020, the hand that gave life to the affable Strega Nona, that infused…