Sudan suffers from the general ridicule of his strange-looking hair, until he comes to accept and enjoy its enchantment.

Everyone knows how "Little Red Riding Hood" goes. But Grandpa keeps getting the story all wrong, with hilarious results! "Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Little Yellow Riding Hood--" "Not yellow! It's Red Riding Hood!" So begins the story of a grandpa playfully recounting the well-known fairytale--or his version, at least--to his granddaughter. Try as she might to get him back on track, Grandpa keeps on adding things to the mix, both outlandish and mundane! The end result is an unpredictable tale that comes alive as it's being told, born out of imaginative play and familial affection. This spirited picture book will surprise and delight from start to finish, while reminding readers that storytelling is not only a creative act of improvisation and interaction, but also a powerful pathway for connection and love. Telling Stories Wrong was written by Gianni Rodari, widely regarded as the father of modern Italian children's literature. It exemplifies his great respect for the intelligence of children and the kind of work he did as an educator, developing numerous games and exercises for children to engage and think beyond the status quo, imagining what happens after the end of a familiar story, or what possibilities open up when a new ingredient is introduced. This book is illustrated with great affection by the illustrious artist Beatrice Alemagna (Child of Glass), who counts Gianni Rodari as one of her "spiritual fathers."

Sudan suffers from the general ridicule of his strange-looking hair, until he comes to accept and enjoy its enchantment.

From Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison to Colson Whitehead and Terry McMillan, Darryl Dickson-Carr offers a definitive guide to contemporary African American literature. This volume-the only reference work devoted exclusively to African American fiction of the last thirty-five years-presents a wealth of factual and interpretive information about the major authors, texts, movements, and ideas that have shaped contemporary African American fiction. In more than 160 concise entries, arranged alphabetically, Dickson-Carr discusses the careers, works, and critical receptions of Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, Jamaica Kincaid, Charles Johnson, John Edgar Wideman, Leon Forrest, as well as other prominent and lesser-known authors. Each entry presents ways of reading the author's works, identifies key themes and influences, assesses the writer's overarching significance, and includes sources for further research. Dickson-Carr addresses the influence of a variety of literary movements, critical theories, and publishers of African American work. Topics discussed include the Black Arts Movement, African American postmodernism, feminism, and the influence of hip-hop, the blues, and jazz on African American novelists. In tracing these developments, Dickson-Carr examines the multitude of ways authors have portrayed the diverse experiences of African Americans. The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction situates African American fiction in the social, political, and cultural contexts of post-Civil Rights era America: the drug epidemics of the 1980s and 1990s and the concomitant "war on drugs," the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, the struggle for gay rights, feminism, the rise of HIV/AIDS, and racism's continuing effects on African American communities. Dickson-Carr also discusses the debates and controversies regarding the role of literature in African American life. The volume concludes with an extensive annotated bibliography of African American fiction and criticism.

A rebel dreamer of a girl daydreams about her role in making the world a better place—and since dreams bleed into reality, maybe she really does. A Kirkus Reviews Best Beginning Reader of 2022! Shahrzad and the Angry King is a contemporary reimagining of the Scheherazade tale, starring scooter-riding, story-loving Shahrzad. Shahrzad loves stories and looks for them everywhere. When she meets a boy and asks him to tell her his story, he recounts fleeing a country that was peaceful and happy, until its grieving king grew angry and cruel. Shahrzad can't forget the boy and his story, and so, when she sees a toy airplane in a store, she imagines herself zooming off to the boy's home country, where she confronts the king, to make him reflect on the kind of leader he really wants to be. Like Scheherazade, she tells the king story after story, but this time not to save her own life, but those of the king's people and his own. Because Shahrzad knows the power of the creative imagination and that the stories we tell and the words we use shape our very existence. We live and die by the sword? Not exactly, says Shahrzad. We live or die by the stories we tell and how we see, frame, and word the world. Brought to life by Iranian artist Nahid Kazemi, this bold heroine reminds us of how powerfully intertwined reality is with the stories we tell.

Arie is now the Queen of Hodafez. Alone. Gift-less. Unwanted. The pain from her Severance is suffocating. Struggling to find the will to go on, all that keeps Arie going is knowing her people need her protection. The Queen of Jinn is readying her attack. Rena gave away the one item that could’ve given them leverage. Her newfound selflessness is put to the test as the human kingdoms need the help of the Mere more than ever. Nesrin doesn’t know that anyone is looking for the prince of Jinn. She’s quickly learning how little she knows about him. Will she discover that she holds the answer everyone is looking for before it’s too late? The Enchanted Crown is a loose “Sleeping Beauty” retelling. Set in a world that humans share with mermaids, dragons, and the elusive Jinn, this is not the fairytale you remember… THE STOLEN KINGDOM SERIES READING ORDER: Book 1: The Stolen Kingdom: An Aladdin retelling Book 2: The Jinni Key: A Little Mermaid retelling Book 3: The Cursed Hunter: A Beauty and the Beast retelling Book 4: The Enchanted Crown: A Sleeping Beauty retelling THE QUEEN'S RISE SERIES (a connected trilogy in The Stolen Kingdom Universe) Book 1: The Secret Gift Book 2: The Secret Shadow Book 3: The Secret Curse

Four popular romance novelists celebrate the beauty and magic of the holiday season with a quartet of original paranormal romance tales by Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and Jean Johnson. Original.