{"product_id":"through-the-water-curtain-isbn-9781782692003","title":"Through the Water Curtain","description":"\u003cb\u003eA delightful, diverse selection of fairy tales from around the world by one of our most beloved children's writers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGOLD FOIL AND OTHER SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKE FOR A RICH, GIFTY PAPER-OVER-BOARDS COVER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInternational bestselling children's author Cornelia Funke has long been inspired and fascinated by fairy tales. This wonderful anthology is Funke's personal selection of fairy tales from all around the world - not just from her native Germany but from Russia, Japan and the Native American tradition. It's the perfect Christmas gift for any young reader wishing to discover the wider world of fairy tales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis wonderful selection of 13 tales includes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe Tale of the Firebird (Russia)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe Boy Who Drew Cats (Japan)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe Frog Princess (Ukraine)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe Six Swans (Germany)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe Girl Who Gave a Knight a Kiss out of Necessity (Sweden)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eKotura, Lord of the Winds (Siberia)\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e1.   The Boy Who Drew Cats\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e2.   Kotura, Lord of the Winds\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e3.   Through the Water Curtain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e4.   The Areca Tree\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e5.   The Maid of the Copper Mountain\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e6.   The Firebird\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e7.   Bluebeard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e8.   The Six Swans\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e9.   Golden Foot\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e10.       The Story of One Who Set out to Study Fear\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e11.       The Frog Princess\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e12.       The One-Handed Murderer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e13.       The Girl Who Gave a Knight a Kiss out of Necessity\u003c\/b\u003e\"The words of these tales create enthralling images, transporting readers to earlier times and enchanted worlds. . . Denouncing past social norms, these tales are bewitching.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e— Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Fairy and folk tale collections are only as good as their compiler, but you're in safe hands with the distinguished author Cornelia Funke.\" — \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, Best Children's Books to Buy this Christmas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A collection that is a breath of fairytale fresh air... a welcome change from the exhausted classics.\" — \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Jewel-bright and provocative fairy-tale retellings.\" — \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMetro\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A marvellous selection.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHerald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Cornelia Funke:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   • \"A wonderful storyteller\" -- \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   • \"Germany's answer to J.K. Rowling\" \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   • \"A master\" \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003eCornelia Funke is one of the best selling children's writers in the world. Her books have sold tens of millions of copies, and they include the \u003ci\u003eInkheart\u003c\/i\u003e trilogy, \u003ci\u003eDragon Rider\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Thief Lord\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eReckless\u003c\/i\u003e series. Cornelia has long been inspired by fairy tales from around the world.Introduction\u003cbr\u003e I didn’t like fairy tales when I was a child. No. I had a\u003cbr\u003e scratched LP (yes, that’s how old I am) that contained\u003cbr\u003e several tales of the Brothers Grimm. I definitely recall\u003cbr\u003e Cinderella. Then there was the terrifying Goose Maid,\u003cbr\u003e with the chopped-off talking head of Falada, the faithful\u003cbr\u003e horse (utterly traumatizing), King Thrushbeard, The\u003cbr\u003e Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and the Seven\u003cbr\u003e Goatlings… I grew up in Germany, so the narrator read the\u003cbr\u003e original tales—abbreviated, I am sure, but not censored\u003cbr\u003e or modified to make them more digestible for children.\u003cbr\u003e I therefore knew the darker versions by heart before I\u003cbr\u003e encountered the interpretations of Walt Disney or the\u003cbr\u003e light-hearted Czech movie adaptations I learnt to love.\u003cbr\u003e All that darkness was of course deeply troubling,\u003cbr\u003e but as the tales were both bewildering and strangely\u003cbr\u003e unforgettable, I listened to that LP almost every night in\u003cbr\u003e my bed, over and over again. It taught me how strange\u003cbr\u003e an enchantment fairy tales can cast even though the\u003cbr\u003e characters stay rather abstract and the plot takes the\u003cbr\u003e wildest and often very abrupt twists and turns. Fairy tales\u003cbr\u003e break all the rules of a good story and yet they find such\u003cbr\u003e powerful images for the deepest human emotions and\u003cbr\u003e fears that we sense deep layers of meaning in a poisonous\u003cbr\u003e apple or the gruelling setting of a gingerbread house,\u003cbr\u003e and more truth than a thousand words would grant.\u003cbr\u003e Of course, that’s an explanation I came up with much\u003cbr\u003e later for the lure of the scratchy LP. As a child I didn’t\u003cbr\u003e ask myself what cast the spell. We accept the rules of\u003cbr\u003e enchanted lands much more easily when we are young.\u003cbr\u003e Apart from the Grimm’s LP, I also remember a\u003cbr\u003e book of Hans Christian Andersen’s Tales bound in blue\u003cbr\u003e linen, a pale green volume of animal tales that I still\u003cbr\u003e own. In some of those stories I felt more at home than\u003cbr\u003e in The Grimm’s Tales, maybe because their tone was\u003cbr\u003e more familiar and less distant in time. I didn’t know\u003cbr\u003e yet about the difference between folk tales passed on\u003cbr\u003e by nameless storytellers over the ages and fairy tales\u003cbr\u003e created by modern authors like H.C. Andersen, Oscar\u003cbr\u003e Wilde or Rudyard Kipling (it doesn’t get much better\u003cbr\u003e than Just So Stories).\u003cbr\u003e Nevertheless. The dark tales the Grimms had collected,\u003cbr\u003e though so much older than The Ugly Duckling\u003cbr\u003e or The Happy Prince, stayed with me, along with their\u003cbr\u003e mysterious and powerful imagery, their archetypes and\u003cbr\u003e the magic of rose-covered castles and shoes filled with\u003cbr\u003e blood… which sometimes included a cut-off toe. But\u003cbr\u003e I probably still would’ve shaken my head in disbelief\u003cbr\u003e at the age of thirty if someone had told me that one\u003cbr\u003e day I’d own quite a collection of fairy-tale books, and I\u003cbr\u003e probably would’ve accepted any bet that I’d never make\u003cbr\u003e them a vital part of my own writing. Even when I was\u003cbr\u003e reading and rereading tales from all over the world for\u003cbr\u003e this anthology, I often felt again what I felt as my sixyear-\u003cbr\u003e old self: that I don’t really like fairy tales.\u003cbr\u003e Oh, all those helpless princesses and scheming old\u003cbr\u003e women, all those child-eating witches and stepmothers!\u003cbr\u003e Does any literary mirror reflect more unflinchingly,\u003cbr\u003e how cruelly women are judged and vilified when they\u003cbr\u003e rebel against the parts men want them to play? All over\u003cbr\u003e the world, fairy tales describe the golden cages and the\u003cbr\u003e punishment for the women who try to escape them.\u003cbr\u003e Of course, in most cases the only hope for the heroine\u003cbr\u003e is the timely appearance of the prince. Folk and fairy\u003cbr\u003e tales tend to be quite reactionary. They don’t even try\u003cbr\u003e to hide their purpose of confirming and preserving\u003cbr\u003e the values of patriarchal societies, with their strict\u003cbr\u003e hierarchies anchored by property and armed violence.\u003cbr\u003e But from time to time one comes across a tale with\u003cbr\u003e a slightly more rebellious message, and each time I\u003cbr\u003e discover one of those I wonder whether many others\u003cbr\u003e were forgotten exactly because they don’t reaffirm\u003cbr\u003e the traditional values that even the liberal Grimms\u003cbr\u003e believed in.","brand":"Pushkin Children's Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301884088549,"sku":"NP9781782692003","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781782692003.jpg?v=1767742593","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/through-the-water-curtain-isbn-9781782692003","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}