Erstwhile

Resource type: graphic novel

Cover (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

How does a young naked woman, who has wrapped herself in a fishing net and tied herself to the back of a donkey, marry the prince and upset the social status of the lords and ladies of the kingdom?

This tale, along with seven more, is told in "Erstwhile": a collection of eight obscure Grimm Brother's fairytales retold in comic form. The book has been created by a group of three artists: Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy and Elle Skinner, who collaborate on web comics of the same name: Erstwhile: Untold tales from the Brothers Grimm.

The three main stories: "Maid Maleen", "The Farmer's Clever Daughter" and "All Fur", all follow the plot of the original fairytales, as documented by the Grimm Brothers, and don't always have a happy ending. There are gory deaths, haunting dead children, and plots to poison husbands. One story even includes a sausage that cooks a tasty stew for the household and seasons it by having a bath in it.

And while there is the stereotypical blonde-haired and blue-eyed beauty who marries the prince in one story, other characters come from different backgrounds and represent a broad spectrum of beauty, body types and romance.

If you are looking for a quick and fun read, with lighthearted stories that follow the well-known fairytale format of "young beautiful girl aims to marry the prince" - but with a twist, along with some interesting tales that value cleverness, diversity, old age AND youth, Erstwhile may be the book for you.

All Fur (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

The Bird, the Mouse and the Sausage (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

The Farmer's Clever Daughter (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

The Old Man and his Grandson (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

The Sweet Porridge (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

A Tale with a Riddle (Biggs, Roy, Skinner, Grimm and Grimm, 2012)

Bibliographic details:

Biggs, G., Roy, L., Skinner, E., Grimm, J., & Grimm, W. (2012). Erstwhile: untold tales from the brothers Grimm. Canada: Strawberry Comics.

Ash

Resource type: book (fiction)

Cover (Lo, 2010)

This novel is a retelling of the Cinderella fairytale, with a twist.

Ash lives in a small servant's room in the house of her stepmother and two stepsisters. She is their servant, working to pay off the debts her father left when he died. She is treated unfairly and with contempt, but finds happiness in well-worn books of fairytales, the warm stones of the floor next to the fire, a freshly peeled and cut apple, and in taking walks in the wild wood when she is alone.

Ash challenges her societies' ideas for the ideal future for a young woman. She asks her younger stepsister why is her goal in life to marry a wealthy older man? Will that make her happy? What does she want to do? Ash tells her that there are other paths she could take, she could become an apprentice and make a life for herself.

At the same time, Ash is facing difficult decisions herself. She has befriended a silvery fairy prince who comforts her, protects her and provides companionship over the years as she mourns the loss of her parents, her home and village. During her walks through the woods, her path also crosses with the huntress, a woman of high standing in her society, but with whom she feels mutual friendship and both are compelled to pursue their friendship to see where it takes her.

However, while Ash is caught between two companions, her world seems to be accepting of same-sex relationships, and she is not discriminated or bullied over connection with the huntress.

The language is immersive and slow-paced, with vivid descriptions of the environment, the beautiful ball gowns, and mossy dark forests. However, in a way that is reminiscent of traditional fairy-tales, there is a distance between what is written and the images that appear in the reader's head. The author, Malinda Lo, has said that she purposefully didn't include a lot of description of the character's physical appearance. Lo writes:

"Respect your readers’ right to cast the story. I do describe my main characters’ physical appearance, but not terribly specifically. I want readers to imagine the Charming that they would fall in love with, because everyone has different tastes" 

This is a slow moving and quiet, but magical novel. It is full of contrasts and decisions, tells a beautiful love story. It is highly recommended.

Bibliographic details:

Lo, M. (2010). Ash. London: Hodder Children's.

Bibliography:
http://www.malindalo.com/2008/10/writing-about-race-in-fantasy-novels/

Inkheart

Resource type: book (fiction)

Cover (Funke, 2011)

Meggie and her father, Mo, love books. And not just to read. Mo earns a living by repairing old and broken books, carefully rebinding them and dressing them in new jackets so that they can continue sharing their stories with the world.

But while Meggie and Mo's lives are filled with books: stacked up in all rooms of their house, and always a few taken with them wherever they go, there is a secret that Mo has been keeping from his 12 year old daughter for seven years. He has a magical ability: when he reads out loud his voice is filled with such passion, life and richness, that characters are pulled out of the story into their world. But who might he read out? A friend like Tinkerbell from Peter Pan? Or the villain, Captain Hook?

The pair meet with Meggie's great aunt Elinor who also shares their love of books, housing a collection of thousands of rare and valuable books in her mansion. Together, Mo's magical ability takes them on an adventure through the countryside in Italy, to confront some dark secrets from Mo's past.

This book has a dark, medieval and gothic feeling. Most of the action takes place in run down villages in the mountains of Italy, overlooking the sea. There are murderous henchmen dressed in black suits who control the police and the nearby village, superstitions, curses, fire-breathing and a larger than life gruesome statue of the villain.

This is an unusual YA book, because most of the characters are adults. And while the adventure does feel slow to start, Inkheart creates a beautiful and terrifying world, full of mystery, adventure and old magic.

Bibliographic details:

Funke, C. (2011). Inkheart. Frome, UK: Chicken House.

Northern Lights

Resource type: audiobook (fiction)

Cover (Pullman, 2003)

Imagine if part of who you are, part of your identity, was separate from you? A dæmon, a separate animal that could shape shift and talk? You'd always have a friend, disputes with other people could be resolved by having your dæmons fight and people could understand you better by your demon's expressions. Would this be easier? Would it be a cure for loneliness? Could we understand each other better?

These questions are asked in Northern Lights. 

The story follows Lyra Belacqua, and her dæmon Pantalaimon, in an alternate universe where lanterns are used as projectors, and cars don't exist. It's a Steampunk world, there's more dust and dirt, the Church and and academic colleges run the country, and there's a bear king who lives in the north. Lyra plays a very important part in the future of this world, but she must not know. A Steampunk contraption called an alethiometer makes it's way in to Lyra's hands. It's kind of like a barometer (used for checking air pressure) but this is used to tell truths.
Lyra must learn to use it, and quickly! Children are disappearing, there are rumours of the church conducting experiments on humans, and there is a rescue mission to find the missing children.

In this audio adaptation of Phillip Pullmans first epic novel in the dark materials trilogy, the characters come to life and the story plays out inside your head as you listen with headphones. While you walk to the train, watching cars and houses pass you in the street, a fantastic adventure full of opulence, academics, magic and mystery plays out. You hear a moth flit past you, and you can almost feel the softly worn leather as someone sits down in an old leather armchair.

Although this is only an abridged version of the full story in The Golden Compass, the audiobook format is an extremely engaging medium in which to experience this story.

Bibliographic details:

Pullman, P. (2003). Northern lights. [Audio Recording]. Bath, UK: BBC Audiobooks.

Howl's Moving Castle

Resource type: movie (fiction)

Poster (Miyazaki, 2004)

Like a ship appearing out the mist, the Steampunk castle looms ahead. But as the air clears, the absurd spindly little legs carrying monstrous castle appear, and it's not so terrifying anymore.

Howl's Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazaki is an anime movie based on the fantasy novel of the same name, by Diana Wynne Jones.

We are taken on a whirlwind ride along with Sophie, a young woman only just starting to take on responsibility in her family's hat shop. Her life feels stiffled amongst all the ribbons and bows, and there's warnings across the land that all young women should watch out for the dangerous Wizard Howl, who lives in the moving castle. But the jealous and compulsive Witch of the Waste makes and entrance and, for reasons unclear, puts Sophie under a curse. She finds herself transformed into a wrinkly and grey - but lively - old woman.

Sophie decides that the hat shop is no longer the place for her, and sets out in the world, with a new found sense of freedom and lack of responsibility. She can't have that much more bad luck, and anyway, who's going to bother with a little old lady?

On her journey she finds the magical castle, which decides that Sophie's alright, and lets her take refuge. But she must live alongside Howl, the impetuous, dazzling, vain, impulsive and powerful wizard, and his household of characters - Calcifer the fire demon who strikes a deal with Sophie to let her stay, Markl, Howl's apprentice wizard in training, and Turnip-Head, a scarecrow that Sophie helps to get out of a sticky situation, and now won't leave her alone.

The characters have depth - the baddies are terrifying, but are simply working towards their own goals, while the goodies may have a touch of bad in them, or maybe it's a sense of mystery.

And the mysterious Wizard Howl. Can Sophie trust him? Can she break her curse? Does she even care enough about herself to break it?

This is sumptuously animated movie, brings life, movement and layers of visual delight to Jones' classic fantasy novel. Watch this movie for the food, the flying and the adventure, magic and romance. 

Bibliographic details:

Jones, D. W. (Writer), & Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2004). Howl's moving castle [Motion Picture]. Japan: Toho.

Additional links

Game: Broken Age



Broken Age is a crowd funded game by Tim Schafer, following two parallel stories in a fantasy world. A young woman named Vella has been chosen to be sacrificed to the monsters to save her village, while Shay, a young man, is on a solitary voyage through space, with only the ships' computer to keep him company.
This is a point and click adventure game, where players interact with objects and surroundings with their mouse. This easily learned and accessible gameplay means that you can quickly get in to the story and dialogue - which are the strong points of this game.

The game is set in luscious scenery, and has a vivid hand painted art-style.
It's well-written and has high-quality voice acting, with a portion of the crowd-funded budget going towards actors Elijah Wood and Masasa Moyo. The dialogue and story of this game is both funny and deeply involving, dealing with concepts such as survival, sacrifice and growing up.

Playing this game is like taking part in a fantastic adventure movie.

Website: Rookie - Lost Tomorrows of Yesterday: Inventions that died before their time.

Memex machine (

The Internet's been around for around 24 years, but what if it was actually closer to 70 years old? That's when the idea of a memex was first thought of - a machine that could store files of information, link these files to form relationships between ideas, and then take you on a journey of related ideas.  But the idea was shelved, and we had to wait another 45 years before being able to get lost on tangents of thought and investigation on the Internet.

This article on Rookie (a website for teenage girls) describes the memex, and other inventions that never really got very far. It's written for teenage girls by current YA fiction authors and writers. There are popular culture references (Miley Cyrus and Back to the Future 2) and it ties in with Steampunk and YA literature (Westerfeld's Uglies series). But at it's heart, it's actually a very entertaining and informative piece of writing about invention, innovation and ideas.

Also, if you visit this link you'll probably go off on your own memex-like adventure, discovering a whole heap of interesting articles, animations, photographs and illustrations of everything from fashion and music, to the joys of taking a nap, how to give yourself a cloud manicure, and gross things done in the name of love. A very much endorsed website.


Video: Understanding Science Fiction - ABC Splash

This interview, from TV show: Between the Lines, was first aired in 1996 on the ABC network. It features two writers living in Australia who have a professional interest in science fiction: Peter Nicholls and Jack Dann. It seeks to answer questions such as how do you define science fiction, and whether science fiction is more about trying to understand the present, rather than trying to foresee the future.

It is valuable as it gives insight in to the science fiction writer's intention and their understanding of the genre.

Alongside the video, there are also questions to think about before, during and after viewing. These aim to challenge you, the viewer, increase your understanding, and to encourage you to take information away from the video and make sense of it in terms of your own life, experiences and understanding. It can give you a starting point to thinking about science fiction in an academic and literary context.

This is a high quality resource, and includes subtitles to make it more accessible. It is from a reputable source, and is linked in with the Australian English curriculum for high school.


Author's blog: Blog - Malinda Lo

Malinda Lo is a YA author, whose book Ash is included in this reading guide. She writes regular post for her blog, and including extensive writing on diversity in YA literature, and LGBTQ YA.

Her blog is written in a personal and approachable style, with many stories included from her own childhood and personal life, alongside more academic pieces on issues such as gender and racial diversity in YA, and the writing process.

Her posts are regular and frequent. You are able to search for older articles (find out the background story to Ash), and view posts sorted by topic (for example, pop culture, writer advice and YA pride).

Keep in mind that this is the author's professional writing blog, so there are frequent posts promoting books. But if you enjoy reading Ash, then it would be good to keep aware of when her new books come out.

Overall, this is a really valuable insight into the writer's process and thoughts, and is extremely useful for those who have an interest in becoming a writer themselves.

Ebook: Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Do you want to read more traditional fairytales? Are you inspired by comics of Erstwhile and the adaptation of the Cinderella story in Ash, and want to try your hand at adapting one of these old tales?

Well, fear not dear friends, because these are all available free for your use at Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library with over 45,000 free ebooks that are no longer under copyright and are free for you to use.

The collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales is available in a range of formats including HTML (for reading on a webpage), ePub, Kindle, PDF and plain text.

It includes well known stories such as Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel, and 60 other tales that have been passed down though storytelling traditions, and were recorded and collected by the Grimm brothers in the 1800s.