It's Your Fairy Tale, You Know

by Elizabeth Rhodes Jackson

The children’s room of the Library was very still. Once in a while a murmur arose at the delivery desk, or some squeaky-shoed small feet crossed from open shelves to reading table. Occasionally a helpful child leaned across to another and whispered, “That’s a dandy book. Have you read the rest of them?” But all of these minor sounds were blended into the general effect of stillness and seclusion; and they did not even reach the ears of a small boy named Wendell, who bent over a large volume on one of the low round tables. He did not hear the footfalls nor the murmurs; he knew nothing of the rumble of traffic that rose through the windows; he was not even conscious of gathering dusk, though the librarian began to snap on lights in dark corners. Wendell read on and on, giving an excellent imitation of a bookworm.


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Title: It's Your Fairy Tale, You Know

Author: Elizabeth Rhodes Jackson

Illustrator: L. E. W. Kattelle

Release Date: August 9, 2018 [EBook #57662]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

Produced by Mary Glenn Krause, Chuck Greif, amsibert and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.

116 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1922

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wendell loves fairy tales better than anything, but one day when he unknowingly runs widdershins nine times around what used to be the Wishing Stone, and a Pixie shows up to demand that Wendell perform three tasks for him, will our youngster be able to handle being the hero of his very own Fairy Tale?

Besides the Pixie, there are a few other standard fairy tale characters such as a Wicked Stepmother, a Giant, and an enchanted frog. Can Wendell cope with all of this and Cousin Virginia besides?

This was fun to read, and had some interesting bits of Boston folk lore and history tossed in while Wendell was being directed around on his adventures. (I checked on one place, and it turns out that the famous Boston Common Frog Pond is still there!)

[J. Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ds#1 (7) and dd#1 (5) loved this and were very disappointed at the lack of a sequel. Me too. Review in a bit....

April 2020 - It's been a year and a half, so quite a long bit, and I still haven't reviewed. Eventually it will come! Anyway, by popular request, I brought the book back for bedtime reading, this time with DS#2 (4) added to the audience. He loved it as much as the older kids, and all three would beg for just one more paragraph.

It's a pity that we don't live near Boston, because Jackson delights in adding Bostonia, some of which I elide (or at least explain) when reading out loud.

From diligent internet searching, I have learned the author has a slight connection with H.P. Lovecraft, as Elizabeth Rhodes Jackson's sister-in-law , Winifred, was a collaborator of his. (Lovecraft referred to Winifred as "Elizabeth", which confuses matters.)

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you openlibrary!

Gosh I would have loved this as a child. I would not have understood all the wit, word-play, and other humor, at least the first time, but I would have reread it often. I love the art, too.

Modern children are not likely to appreciate it, or to understand much of humor at all. And there are some unfortunate depictions of "negro" characters. The text is fine, as Boston was portrayed as being comfortably diverse and integrated, but the art is terrible in that respect. It's lovely otherwise, though.

So, ultimately, I highly recommend this very quick read for adult fans of original fairy tales, especially variations on the three wishes theme.