Hold on to your lucky charms and delve into this bewitching collection of 30 fairy tales and magic stories, retold by the world's best-loved storyteller. Watch out for cats in boots, three bears who live in the woods and strange unicorns in this magical collection of short stories by Enid Blyton. From lost slippers and fairy curses to imps without names and a dragon called Mr Wumble, there's fairy magic brewing. Who will live happily ever after? These traditional tales are ideal for younger children being read to and for newly confident readers to read alone. Each story stands alone and is the perfect length for reading at bedtime or in the classroom. Enid Blyton remains one of Britain's favourite children's authors and her bumper short story collections are perfect for introducing her to the latest generation of readers.

The fairy catalogue brings you the very best from Fairyland and everything you could wish for in a fairy tale.

Myths, legends, and magic are woven together in a collection of enthralling Irish fairy tales from the New York Times bestselling author of the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. A haunting midnight dance that steals children away... An eerie fairy island that appears once every seven years... A magical silver horse that emerges from the depths of a dark lake... Venture into the Otherworld with eleven timeless, enchanting Irish fairy tales that uncover the haunting, hidden world of the Sidhe--the fairy-folk. A master of Irish mythology, bestselling author Michael Scott has crafted stories guaranteed to enthrall young readers who love magic, legends, and lore. And don't miss the companion collection of Irish folktales, Legends & Lore!

Reality, Magic, and Other Lies: Fairy-Tale Film Truths explores connections and discontinuities between lies and truths in fairy-tale films to directly address the current politics of fairy tale and reality. Since the Enlightenment, notions of magic and wonder have been relegated to the realm of the fanciful, with science and reality understood as objective and true. But the skepticism associated with postmodern thought and critiques from diverse perspectives--including but not limited to anti-racist, decolonial, disability, and feminist theorizing--renders this binary distinction questionable. Further, the precise content of magic and science has shifted through history and across location. Pauline Greenhill offers the idea that fairy tales, particularly through the medium of film, often address those distinctions by making magic real and reality magical. Reality, Magic, and Other Lies consists of an introduction, two sections, and a conclusion, with the first section, "Studio, Director, and Writer Oeuvres," addressing how fairy-tale films engage with and challenge scientific or factual approaches to truth and reality, drawing on films from the stop-motion animation company LAIKA, the independent filmmaker Tarsem, and the storyteller and writer Fred Pellerin. The second section, "Themes and Issues from Three Fairy Tales," shows fairy-tale film magic exploring real-life issues and experiences using the stories of "Hansel and Gretel," "The Juniper Tree," and "Cinderella." The concluding section, "Moving Forward?" suggests that the key to facing the reality of contemporary issues is to invest in fairy tales as a guide, rather than a means of escape, by gathering your community and never forgetting to believe. Reality, Magic, and Other Lies--which will be of interest to film and fairy-tale scholars and students--considers the ways in which fairy tales in their mediated forms deconstruct the world and offer alternative views for peaceful, appropriate, just, and intersectionally multifaceted encounters with humans, non-human animals, and the rest of the environment.

Contemporary Fairy-Tale Magic, edited by Lydia Brugué and Auba Llompart, studies the impact of fairy tales on contemporary cultures from an interdisciplinary perspective, with special emphasis on how literature and film are retelling classic fairy tales for modern audiences. We are currently witnessing a resurgence of fairy tales and fairy-tale characters and motifs in art and popular culture, as well as an increasing and renewed interest in reinventing and subverting these narratives to adapt them to the expectations and needs of the contemporary public. The collected essays also observe how the influence of academic disciplines like Gender Studies and current literary and cinematic trends play an important part in the revision of fairy-tale plots, characters and themes.

“The Hike just works. It’s like early, good Chuck Palahniuk. . . . Magary underhands a twist in at the end that hits you like a sharp jab at the bell. . . . It’s just that good.” —NPR.org “A page-turner. . . . Inventive, funny. . . . Quietly profound and touching.”—BoingBoing From the author of The Night the Lights Went Out and The Postmortal, a fantasy saga unlike any you’ve read before, weaving elements of folk tales and video games into a riveting, unforgettable adventure of what a man will endure to return to his family When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize that the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily. With no choice but to move forward, Ben finds himself falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects. On a quest of epic, life-or-death proportions, Ben finds help comes in some of the most unexpected forms, including a profane crustacean and a variety of magical objects, tools, and potions. Desperate to return to his family, Ben is determined to track down the “Producer,” the creator of the world in which he is being held hostage and the only one who can free him from the path. At once bitingly funny and emotionally absorbing, Magary’s novel is a remarkably unique addition to the contemporary fantasy genre, one that draws as easily from the world of classic folk tales as it does from video games. In The Hike, Magary takes readers on a daring odyssey away from our day-to-day grind and transports them into an enthralling world propelled by heart, imagination, and survival.

"A time long ago, when the Moon and Sun were friends and shared the same sky, a strange man wandered down an even stranger path." In this folkloric tale, a man known only as the Stranger finds his way to another world and embarks on a journey to take back what he has lost. Watched with growing interest by ancient celestial beings, he faces a different challenge at every turn and each one more tempting than the last. Can he resist the temptations, or will the Four Winds sway his heart with bribes cloaked as gifts? This is a world of shadow and light, where the winds follow no particular direction and where even time has a will of its own. Deeply rooted in dark, traditional storytelling and enriched with stunning olde worlde illustrations by Adam Oehlers, A Stranger's Tale introduces familiar characters in an unfamiliar world. Rich in imagery and a nostalgic charm, Natasa Xerri brings a fresh new voice to age-old themes, as she weaves a story that has readers of all ages spellbound from beginning to end.