New historical fiction

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres.  I love hearing about how things were in the olden days (particularly from the comfort of my couch in my air conditioned house with indoor plumbing and refrigerator and dishwasher).  But in the way of taking you some place you didn't even know you wanted to go, these stories totally do that.

The first one is a fairy tale.  I suppose this seems like a bit of an oxymoron-a new fairy tale, how can that be?  Aren't fairy tales old folk tales?  Kings and queens and princesses?  Well, it turns out that new ones get written all the time and this one is absolutely terrific.

It's called Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror.  It's written by Natasha Farrant and illustrated by Lydia Corry.  The story starts with an enchantress who is asked by a king and queen to be a godmother to their daughter, except that the enchantress, who really wants to do the right thing, doesn't know exactly what makes a good princess.  So she asks her maid who suggests that a good princess should be pretty and tidy and kind to animals.  So she asks her magic mirror.  The mirror says an excellent princess should have clean fingernails, be good at lessons, and have good manners, which seems a little limiting to the enchantress.  So the enchantress makes the mirror into a pocket mirror and gives her to a princess so the mirror can report back to her about all the things that make a princess excellent.  Since the title is EIGHT princesses and a magic mirror, you can probably guess that there are eight stories about different princesses and you'd be right.  What's great about all these different princesses is that they are also so very different-in different times, in different cultures, in different settings.  It's an amazing array of princesses.  The stories are fairly short and completely different from one another that it makes for very compelling reading.  The art work is lovely too.  The pictures are shaped in a way that will remind you of old fashioned stories but the colors are bright and vibrant making you think of much more modern work.  It's a fun contrast to the stories that sometimes feel old fashioned and sometimes seem completely modern.  This would be an excellent read aloud as well as a good book for kids who love fairy tales and even some of the more reluctant readers.  I really loved this one!

The second one is more straightforward historical fiction.  It's called Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk.  I loved her other books, Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea, and this one is just as wonderful.  It's about Ellie and her family, who in the Great Depression, move to a cabin in the mountains.  Her mother has been a music teacher and is not loving the life of being out in the woods on their own.  Neither is Ellie's big sister, Esther, who, like her mom, wishes they still lived in town, in a nice house with beautiful things.  Ellie loves being out in the woods with her dad but one day, while her dad is cutting down trees, there's a terrible accident and her dad is injured.  Ellie blames herself and so does the rest of the family.  Her dad is in a coma with no indication that he will pull out of it.  The doctor says there isn't anything he can do.  But Ellie's dad told her about a hag up on the mountain, and Ellie is determined to try to wake her dad up.  The dog comes looking for Ellie one day and leads her to the cabin, where a woman lies sick and feverish and unable to care for herself.  Ellie decides to help her, despite her mother's warnings and punishments to stay away.  This is a wonderful story about families and intuition and healing and self reliance and how sometimes we need to rely on one another.   I really loved Ellie's strong, confident voice.  I loved that there were dogs and puppies in the story and that none of them died!  I was really sorry when the book was over.  This will be a great book for anyone who likes historical fiction or strong characters or wants to learn more about the Depression Era.