Carol's Notebook

Chickerella by Mary Jane and Herm Auch (Suggested reading level: Ages 4 -8 ) I talked about Cinderella the other day and then ran across this farmyard retelling at the library. Amber (10) did not read it with me. It's below her reading level and we're in the middle of Harriet the Spy, but more important she hates chickens and this book is full of them. The illustrations are actually photos of stuffed chicken mannequins made with clay, yarn, feathers and fabric. Chickerella's mother was killed by a fox and her father marries a hen with two daughters who shows up from another farm. This stepmother sends Chickerella's father on a wild goose chase and he never returns. Chickerella, true to the story, is forced to be the servant of the household. For some reason, the water she drinks makes her lay glass eggs. Some time later, a Fowl Ball is held (yes, the book is chock-full of bad puns). Chickerella is told...

This week for Fairy Tale Friday, I'm featuring one of my favorites when I was a child. We actually had this troll story in two books, "The Stone Cheese" in Favorite Tales of Monsters and Trolls retold by George Jonsen which has awesome illustrations and "The Lumberjack and the Cheese" in Trolls compiled and illustrated by Doug Cushman. I don't know why it was a favorite, but we actually still have both of those books, one at my mom's and the other at my house. In the story, an old man lives at the edge of a forest. In turn he sends his two oldest sons out to chop wood, but both brothers are frightened off by the "ugliest, meanest-looking troll anyone could imagine" who threatens to rip them to pieces. On the third day, the youngest brother goes out to chop wood, taking a piece of white cheese with him. When he is confronted by the troll, he takes out...