Grégoire Alexandre

In my searches for images of fairy tale inspired origami, I found these images by Grégoire Alexandre, a well-established photographer whose commercial work you've probably seen and didn't realize it. I'm sharing the green unicorn above and the cave below which--if I stretch my imagination--is Gerda in the Snow Queen. Aren't they fun?


Yes, these are on the slant for fairy tale info, but I just had to share them anyway since they fit in with one of my recent themes.

Erstwhile Comics

I recently learned about Erstwhile, an independently published comic book series. The writers and artists are Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy and Elle Skinner, all members of Strawberry Comics. Biggs is best known for her Red String series of graphic novels which also uses some myth and fairy tale elements. Erstwhile is a side project all three create out of love for the old fairy tales.

Here's a quote from the website:

Fairy tales have captured our hearts for generations, appealing to our taste for adventure, horror, and romance. Erstwhile brings you the often overlooked gems in the collections of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; tales that despite their quality are often ignored or unknown.

The latest issue of Erstwhile retells All Fur (a Donkeyskin variant). I've included the cover image above and one page below.


Apparently these women share my taste in the lesser known tales because they have also previously published Maid Maleen, a tale I have annotated on SurLaLune, and The Farmer's Clever Daughter, one of my top choices to annotate if I ever add another tale to SurLaLune. (Or I would add a collection of clever women tales and variants. Love those...)



They've also published a collection of Short Tales, pictured below. The comic includes three tales: The Bird, the Mouse, and the Sausage; The Old Man and his Grandson; and The Little Shroud.


The Erstwhile website also offers images of a few other tales, not published, but available for our public consumption: A Tale with a Riddle, The Wolf & the Man, and Choosing a Bride.

You can see more page images of all the comics on the website, too.

I've not seen these in person and I'm not affiliated with them. Just call me a fan sharing the news. The comics are available through their website at this time. I have to say these things for the FCC regs and will soon be adding a disclaimer on the page somewhere.

Fairy Tale Coloring Books

And today I offer coloring and activity books with fairy tale themes.


Rackham Fairy Tale Stained Glass Coloring Book: This one is my favorite since I adore the stained glass coloring books from Dover--see the Tiffany and Wizards and Dragons ones--along with several members of my family. My mom loves the art ones and gets them to color with her grandchildren. I like using markers and seeing the jewel-tone effects the translucent paper creates. Then add in the illustrations by Rackham and I'm really happy with these.


Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Stained Glass Coloring Book: More stained glass! Sixteen ready-to-color scenes from tales by one of the world's great storytellers depict characters from "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Princess on the Pea," "The Nightingale," "The Snow Queen," "The Ugly Duckling," and 10 other classics.


Rackham's Fairy Tale Coloring Book: Coloring pages adapted from Arthur Rackham's drawings for several Grimm fairy tales including Hansel and Gretel, King Thrushbear, Doctor Know-All, and others.


Fairy Tale Hidden Picture Coloring Book: This one is a coloring book with the short versions of the tales included for reading as well as hidden elements in the pictures to find. Lots of stuff to do with this one!


Color Your Own Great Fairy Tale Illustrations: Lovely drawings of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, the Little Mermaid, Puss in Boots, Rapunzel, the Three Pigs, and other beloved characters will delight colorists of all ages. Includes 30 reproductions of works by Edmund Dulac, Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Warwick Gobel, Heath Robinson, Charles Folkard, and others.


Favorite Fairy Tales Coloring Book: Thirty fun-to-color illustrations take youngsters to the make-believe world of Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Thumbelina, Beauty and the Beast, the Golden Goose, Pinocchio, the Ugly Duckling, and other beloved characters — all portrayed in familiar surroundings.


Sleeping Beauty Coloring Book: Thirty ready-to-color drawings invite children to color memorable scenes from the beloved fairy tale about a princess who falls into a 100-year sleep and wakes to the kiss of a handsome prince. Charming drawings are accompanied by the complete text set in large, easy-to-read type, ready to charm new generations of readers and coloring book fans. 30 black-and-white line illustrations.


The Little Mermaid Coloring Book: Beloved classic about the little mermaid who falls in love with a prince, presented complete and unabridged, along with 31 large, ready-to-color illustrations. Engaging drawings depict magical underworld of Sea King and his six lovely mermaid daughters, the splendid turreted palace of the young prince, the evil sea witch and her dark domain, and much more.


Snow White Coloring Book: Beloved tale retold in 19 finely detailed drawings depicting the jealous Queen before her magic mirror, the Seven Dwarfs sung little cottage, the Queen, in disguise, offering Snow White a poisoned apple, the handsome prince who brings the young maiden back to life, and more. Includes full text, set in large, easy-to-read type. (This one appears to be out of print, alas.)


Listen and Color: Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales Book and CD: Eight tales by one of the world's greatest storytellers come to life in this entertaining book and CD set. Listen to lively, narrated versions of "The Little Mermaid," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Princess on the Pea," while coloring 40 scenes from these and 5 other tales. The 60-minute CD features 3 stories.

Here are three more stained glass coloring books--these are miniature ones though, half the page size of the ones shown above. Great for traveling away from home or stuffing stockings if you do that type of thing.








This last one may be out of print, but I had to share it anyway.

Hansika South Movie Images

Seetha ramula Kalyanam lankalo starring Nitin and Hansika Motwani in the lead is progressing at a brisk space. This movie is directed by Eshwar Reddy of Siddu From Srikakulam fame. Congress MLA Malla Vijaya Prakash is producing this film under Welfare Creations banner. Anoop Rubens is the music director. Sitaramula Kalyanam film is said to be a romantic entertainer. The audio launch of the film is planned on December 19th. The film is slated to release in January first week. 08 more images after the break..

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Poe the Clydesdale World's tallest Horse

It’s lucky he’s such a good-natured beast. Because if this horse turned grumpy, there’s no way a petite woman armed with a rope could hold him back. Standing 20.2 hands - that’s 6ft 10in - at the shoulder and weighing 200 stone, Poe is the tallest horse in the world, according to owner Shereen Thompson.

Mane attraction: Clydesdale Poe with 5ft 3in tall owner Shereen Thompson in Tupperville, Ontario in Canada, more images after the break...

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More Fairy Tale Games

Today I offer more fairy tale themed games and activities, most aimed at younger children. The memory games look like fun and I'm tempted by the playing cards myself. I was surprised I didn't find a fairy tale bingo game. So then I went looking on the web and found this site but I wish the cards didn't include Disney images especially for classroom use. Now my brain is considering ways to make up some bingo cards with fairy tale themes and ones that would be easier to call out to wee ones.

But for now, here are some ready made games:


Fairytale Time Deck of Cards

Fairy-tale themed playing cards...


Fairy Tales Memory Game by Educa

Slightly different memory game where you use a game board and try to match all of the characters from each tale, but some bad characters can make you lose all you've won.


Fairy Tale Once Upon a Time Matching and Old Maid Playing Cards Game Set by eeBoo

Once Upon a Time Matching game pairs up 24 classic fairy tale characters.


Fairytale Spinner Game by eeBoo

In this game for two to four players, participants spin for a hero, treasure, rival, means of transport, helper, magical object or fairy tale places. The person to collect them all first wins and gets to use all the elements in a story.


Tell Me A Story - Fairy Tale Mix-Up by eeBoo

36 flash cards with 36 different images with instructions included for a variety of games and activities.


Write Me A Story - Fairy Tale Mix-Up by eeBoo

A variation of Tell Me a Story above but for older kids with more complex story cards and writing, not really a game but creative writing exercise. Essentially 50 perforated pages and 96 stickers in a nice notebook that encourages story creation using classic fairy tale elements and story cards. I think this one acts more as a book kit for one child, not a game for multiple players, so consider it as such.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Net?

Who’s afraid of the big bad net? by Pat Kane

This is an article about the internet and safety for children (and the rest of us) while using it. It uses fairy tales quite a bit to make its point, rather belaboring the metaphor, even quoting Bettelheim, so I decided to link to it as an interesting usage of fairy tales.

Here's a passage:

The question in the mind is: have you sent her off to a virtual version of the local playpark – with good facilities, chatting to friends in the sunlight, in a well-run, somewhat monitored space? Or have you left her to wander into the gloomy, unpredictable woods of cyberspace, where duplicitous wolves, terrible visions and worse lie in wait?

There is no doubt that the latter metaphor describes most of the tabloid headlines about our children’s relationship to cyberspace. If recent surveys are to be believed, more than half of UK parents think the internet is a more dangerous place for children than the real world. In other words, it has replaced the deep, dark forest – where Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel confronted their demons – as the locus of our most visceral fears. And even as an evangelist for the networked world, I’d be the last to minimise the issues.

Even more interesting considering my post earlier this month about Little Red Hoodie by Adrianna Kruse.