Home Ask Question Answer Questions My Q&A Categories Ask the experts Expert leader board

myjunction's Questions & Answers

in Computers & Technology, Books & Authors& Kolkata

12

Rank

Total Points: 50626

Answers Given: 13770

Questions Asked: 444

Best Answers: 403

I am looking for a synopsis of French fairy tale - The Dolphin?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:25 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

The Dolphin is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy. Another literary tale of this type is Giambattista Basile's older Peruonto. A folk variant is the French Half-Man.
Synopsis
A king and queen had several children, but loved them only if they were good and beautiful. One, Alidor, being ugly, in time left his parents secretly. More distressed over their reputation than his fate, they sent after him, but he had chosen his path with care and vanished. He met a young man in service to the King of the Woods and heard of his beautiful daughter Livorette, and so resolved to go there. Once there, Livorette and all her ladies laughed at his ugliness. The queen, however, drew him aside and inquired after him. He soon became a favorite at the court because of his intelligence and courtesy, but Livorette still laughed at him, and being madly in love with her, Alidor soon became melancholy. Trying to distract himself, he fished, but he caught nothing, and Livorette mocked him for it. One day, he caught a dolphin. The dolphin asked him to put it back, promising to help him, and reasoned with him about the princess. When he freed it, he despaired, but it came back and gave him an abundance of fish. It then discussed how to win Livorette, saying it would be necessary to deceive her. He brought back the fish, and then turned himself into a canary. In this form, he wooed the princess but would not speak to anyone else. After a night, he persuaded the princess to take him to her parents, where he claimed to be a king of an island. They agreed. Alidor visited the court in his own shape, and the queen told him all about the match. That night, after staying in the princess's bedroom until she slept, he went to the seashore and sat on a rock. Grognette the fairy, a dwarf, came out and cursed him for sitting on her rock, saying she would make him suffer. Meanwhile, a prince sent ambassadors to woo Livorette. She seemed disposed to accept them. However, she grew ill, and a doctor, hidden from knowledge of her rank, said she was going to have a child. Soon after, she had a son. The king decided to have them both killed; the queen managed to have it deferred. Alidor grew mad with the despair, and the dolphin no longer appeared. When the baby was four, the king had every man give him a gift. When Alidor's made the baby reach for him, the king said he was the father and had Alidor, the princess, and the son thrown into the sea in a barrel. There Alidor, though still mad, summoned the dolphin, and Livorette had him order the dolphin to obey her. Then she had the dolphin conjure them out of the barrell to a magnificent island, and explain how she came to have a child, and then restore Alidor's sanity and make him handsome. They landed on the island, and she forgave Alidor his deceit. The dolphin had them made king and queen of it. However, Grognette had forbidden her to consider Alidor her husband without her parents' consent. The queen had learned what the king had ordered for Livorette and reproached him. At last he confessed that he had had no peace since then. They consulted a fairy, who sent them to the dolphin's island. They were shipwrecked, but saved alive. They could not recognize Alidor, or their daughter, or the child, who made them welcome, but Livorette revealed the truth. Their marriage was concluded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Do lphin_(fairy_tale)

Answered at 11:27 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

Could you share a review of CLAIR-DE-LUNE by Cassandra Golds?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 11:23 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CLAIR-DE-LUNE
by Cassandra Golds

Yearling
ISBN-10: 044042089X
ISBN-13: 9780440420897
Ages 10-up
208 pages

Clair-de Lune is a young ballet student living in an old city many years past. Her mother and grandmother were ballet dancers. In fact, Clair-de-Lune's mother, La Lune (which means "the moon") was a famous, much loved ballerina who died at a very young age while dancing on the stage. She left her baby daughter to be raised by a strict grandmother in the attic of an old and mystical apartment building just behind the theatre. Ever since the night of La Lune's death, Clair-de-Lune has never spoken a word. Everyone believes it is because of the tragic loss of her young mother that the child's lips and voice do not utter any sounds. However, Clair-de-Lune speaks a special language. "When she was dancing, her arms and legs spoke, and her hands and feet spoke, and her body and the carriage of her head spoke, too. And she felt that just a little of the weight of her heart, the weight of things unsaid, would be lifted." And so Clair-de-Lune loves everything about the dance because it offers her the chance to discover her own story, the story of how she came to be a young dancer raised by her grandmother in a rickety apartment building six stories high. The days of Clair-de-Lune are strictly spent taking ballet class from Monsieur Dupoint (whose studio happens to be on the third floor of the apartment building), studying practical school subjects at home with her grandmother, and running brief errands to the market. It is the regimented life of a ballerina-in-training overseen with great care and consternation by her grandmother, until the little girl who cannot speak encounters a little mouse who can speak very well! Bonaventure is a brave talking, dancing mouse who leads Clair-de-Lune on an adventure where she meets a fanciful array of characters who help her learn about true love and how love is the reason for life, especially her own.

Cassandra Golds masters the difficult literary feat of mixing fictitious reality with fantasy. Some readers may be put off by the blurry lines between the factual and the fantastic, but Golds has truly captured in writing the whimsy that every ballet production relies on: genuine people dancing magical stories and making the fanciful appear truly alive.

Answered at 11:24 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

Share a gist of THE CIRCUS IN THE WOODS by Bill Littlefield?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 11:14 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

THE CIRCUS IN THE WOODS
by Bill Littlefield

Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 061806642X
Ages 10-up
240 pages

In this mystery novel, a girl at summer camp one day discovers a circus --- complete with acrobats, a fortune teller and lion tamers --- in the middle of the Vermont woods. She also learns that she has found a place where life never moves through time or change.

Answered at 11:17 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

What is the subject matter of CISSY FUNK by Kim Taylor?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:21 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CISSY FUNK by Kim Taylor

HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060290412
Ages 10-up
224 pages

Narcissus Louise Funk, better known as “Cissy”, is a young teen scared to death of her mother. I'm not exaggerrating, she is really frightened and she has reason. Living with her brother Jonas and their mother in Depression-era Colorado, Cissy spends her days doing farm chores and attempting to please thier mother. Everything Cissy does, she does in an effort to forestall the rages that whirl around in her mother’s head, not unlike the sudden dust storms her mother is certain will come if Cissy and Jonas leave her by herself.

Cissy desperately misses her father. He left the family immediately after the burial of Violet, Cissy’s and Jonas’ baby sister. Before Violet dies, or at least in Cissy's memory, her mother was warm and caring and and her father was attentive. In short, the Funks were an intact, functioning and "normal" family.

But now everything is different. Cissy’s mother idealizes her husband; she obsessively believes he will return. Jonas knows better, though he indulges his mother. He also is gentle with Cissy. But as time goes by, Frank, Cissy’s father, never does arrive. However, his sister ,Vera, does. Aunt Vera comes for a visit and begins to make a real difference in the household: Cissy now has someone she hopes will look out for her. At first, Cissy’s mother is not as violent while Vera is around. Soon that changes, and it becomes obvious that Cissy’s mother has nothing but contempt for her sister-in-law Vera. After witnessing a particularly brutal act, Vera steals Cissy away from the house and attempts to alleviate the pain and suffering that have marred her young life up to this point. Things never go as expected and people are never quite who we think they are. This book takes many circuitous routes before we know whether there will be stability and happiness in Cissy’slife. Taylor tackles very adult themes and presents them to the young reader with respect and sensitivity, never in any way condescending. This is no fairy tale and there are no magical, happy, improbable endings here, but rather what you might expect from real life: tough choices, hurt and disappointment and realistic characters with the strength and ability to redeem their lives, taking responsibility for themselves and for others, as well. A wonderful effort by a first-time novelist with meticulous detail of the Depression era and a storyline that remains captivating to the end.

Answered at 11:22 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

Looking for a detailed review of CIRCLES IN THE STREAM by Shelly Roberts?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:10 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CIRCLES IN THE STREAM
(Avalon: Web of Magic, #1)
by Shelly Roberts
Apple
ISBN: 043922165X
Ages 9-12
173 pages

12 year-old Emily Fletcher is pretty bummed as CIRCLES IN THE STREAM begins. Not only does she have to deal with her parents getting divorced, but she and her Mom move from the mountains of Colorado --- the only home Emily has ever known. Now she has to get used to being in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, with a whole new set of kids and a new school.

The one thing that makes Emily happy is working with her Mom. Dr. Carolyn Fletcher is a vet and Emily helps her by cleaning, feeding and playing with the animals that are recuperating at the Stonehill Animal Hospital and the Pet Palace. Emily also occasionally helps her mother in the operating room. In fact, she is doing just that when a horribly wounded catlike animal with strange, deep burns is brought in. Emily tries to aid her Mom, but she is afraid --- afraid because she has never seen a wild cat that looks like this one, afraid because the animal's wounds are so horrible, afraid because she could swear she heard the animal SPEAK. Emily is sure the cat-thing looked at her and said "Home." Is she going crazy? What is this strange animal and how did it get hurt? In order to solve these mysteries, Emily heads for Ravenswood Wildlife Preserve, where the animal was found. There she finds a magical glen, with instantaneously sprouting, glowing flowers, a pool of multicolored liquid and beautiful, but definitely not normal animals. It is here that Emily encounters Adriane. The two girls are the same age and share a love of animals. Both are outsiders, too: while Emily feels alone because she is new in town, Adriane is shunned because she lives in the nature preserve with her grandmother. All the kids in town think it's a haunted place and think Adriane must be weird and crazy. The two girls decide to work together to help the magical creatures who all seem to be in distress. Where have these fantastical animals come from and why? And what is the evil force that has followed them and now threatens Emily and Adriane's world? Emily and Adriane discover a lot during their search for answers, not the least of which is a talking ferret named Ozzie. They also learn that the animals have a prophecy about three girls who save both the magical world and this world --- but if they are only two who is the other they need? And what does any of this have to do with Kara, the stuck-up, popular daughter of the town's mayor?

This is the first book in a series so don't fret! There will be many more adventures for Emily, Adriane and Kara. Animal lovers, nature lovers, and magic lovers alike will all be Avalon: Web of Magic lovers!

Answered at 11:12 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

What is the fairy tale ‘Doll i' the Grass’ about?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:17 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

Doll i' the Grass is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr.

Synopsis

A king sent his twelve sons out to find brides, laying on them the condition that their brides could spin, weave, and sew a shirt in a day, and giving them each a mail coat and a horse. When they had gone a distance, they refused to let the youngest go with them, because he was useless. A little girl asked him to come see Doll i' the Grass, and he went. Doll i' the Grass asked him his troubles, and he told her but said she was so lovely, though small, he would be happy if she consented to be his wife.

She made him a shirt in a day, but it was tiny. They set out, he on his horse, she in a silver spoon drawn by two white mice, leaving him afraid he would trample her. They came to a body of water, his horse shied, and Doll i' the Grass was thrown in. He was horror-struck, but a merman brought her out again, and now she was of normal size.

His brothers had brought home ugly wives who had fought all the way home, and they wore hats with tar and soot, so that the rain had stained their faces with it, making them uglier. The king drove them and their brides away, and celebrated the wedding of his youngest son.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik i/Doll_i%27_the_Grass

Answered at 11:21 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

What is CINDERELLA by Barbara Ensor about?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 10:59 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CINDERELLA (AS IF YOU DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW THE STORY)
by Barbara Ensor

Schwartz & Wade Books/Random House
ISBN-10: 0375836209
ISBN-13: 9780375836206
Ages 7-11
128 pages

"Cinderella" is one of the most popular of fairy stories. It has been not only translated into about every language, it has also been modified for our diverse cultures and times. Barbara Ensor's CINDERELLA is a fun little version that is decidedly for contemporary readers. In this version Cinderella tells her story through a series of letters to her dead mother. The letters are sweet, poignant and often funny as she unburdens her heart. When she writes the letter telling of her father's remarriage, she ends with:

P.P.S. Don't worry about writing back, I don't expect miracles or anything. (We don't believe in them,) or do we?

Of course, this is a story that abounds with miracles. There are fairy godmothers, magic slippers, pumpkins turning into carriages, and all the usual magic of the traditional fairy tale. With several clever twists, however, Cinderella falls in love with a prince who is terribly spoiled and is put out when his parents aren't as concerned about finding the girl who fits the shoe and instead choose to go on a golf outing. The stepsisters are as conceited as ever, but not really as ugly as we have been led to believe: The truth is, they were nice enough to look at, maybe not as pretty as you or Cinderella, but certainly not ugly. All right, some of what they said was ugly, yes, I agree…

So this is the book that lets us know what actually happens to everyone. Did they really just live "happily ever after?" There are some surprises here. The nasty stepsisters have to move out so Cinderella and the prince can provide a sanctuary for wild animals. Cinderella's father and stepmother are given royal dispensation and allowed to stay in the castle (provided the stepmother works double shifts on the cleaning staff). Most importantly, Cinderella and the prince learn a great deal about each other: "As the love between them grew, they began to trust themselves, even the dark scary places." No one pushes little Cinderella around anymore. So finally there is peace in the kingdom as Cinderella insists that big bombs just don't interest her in the least. The artwork is made up of creatively rendered silhouette cutouts. Cinderella's letters to her mother are handwritten, smudged with ink and scratched out words. This book could easily translate into an animated Shrek-like film that would delight people of all ages. Don't miss this very original retelling of a beloved classic.

Answered at 11:01 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

Share a detailed review of THE CIRCLE OF DOOM by Tim Kennemore?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:02 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

THE CIRCLE OF DOOM
by Tim Kennemore

Farrar, Straus & Giroux
ISBN: 0374312842
Ages 9-12
203 pages

The Sharp family lives in the country and, for the most part, the three children --- Lizzie, Dan and Max --- are very happy with their life and their home. Their biggest problem is that they have the most horrible couple living in the house opposite theirs. Lizzie Sharp decides one day that she has had enough. Mr. and Mrs. Potward have to go. The question is how. Lizzie has the most remarkable ability to improvise and this is just what she does on this occasion. Determinedly, Lizzie sets about making a magic potion. She casts a spell and thinks no more about the episode. Then the most amazing thing happens --- the Potwards leave!

After this, life in the Sharp household becomes increasingly confusing and confused. Lizzie becomes convinced that she is an honest to goodness witch and sets about casting spells left and right. Dan has great fun teasing his sister and convincing her that he too has a strong strain of magic running through his veins. Then there is Max, the baby in the family. Max is a very lonely little boy. So lonely is he in fact that he creates not one imaginary friend to keep him company but an entire family of imaginary friends, the Dumplings. Max decides that he too is going to try a little potion making with the most hilarious and, at the same time, disastrous results.

Tim Kennemore has created a wonderful, likeable and, in Max's case, loveable family in the tradition of Roald Dahl. She understands how children think. For example, Max describes his archenemy as being "six miles high," exaggerating in the way young children are prone to do. We cannot help feeling very sorry for Max when Lizzie and Dan magic away his imaginary family. Plot interweaves with counter plot until we, like Lizzie, wonder what on earth is happening in this madhouse. Yet, Tim Kennemore has created such a delightful madhouse that we can only hope she brings this family back for another round of adventures.

Answered at 11:05 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

Share a synopsis of CIRCLE OF FIRE by Evelyn Coleman?

Asked by Mitana Mukhe in Books & Authors at 11:08 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

CIRCLE OF FIRE by Evelyn Coleman and illustrated by Jean-Paul Tibbles and Laszlo Kubinyi

American Girl
ISBN: 1584853395
Ages 9-12
160 pages

The year is 1958. Mendy is 12 years old and she's kind of a loner. She likes to play in the woods near her house in rural Tennessee. Mendy has a secret clearing that she claims as all her own---she calls it "The Taj Mahal". Mendy goes there to sit in the still beauty of the mountain forest and visit her cottontail rabbit, Mr. Hare. She saved him from her father's trap when he was a baby, and she raised him until her father told her to release him to the wild. Instead, she took him to her clearing, where she can visit him often and where he's happy and safe. Mendy's best friend is Jeffrey, who's 14. They're more than best friends, really; they're blood brother and sister forever. But Mendy is black, and Jeffrey is white. Folks think they're getting too old to be friends anymore. In 1958, the South was segregated by law. White people and black people couldn't even drink from the same water fountain, so they certainly couldn't be best friends. At first Mendy and Jeffrey stay friends secretly, leaving notes in their hiding place when they need to meet. But Mendy's mother catches them talking one day, and she threatens to tell Jeffrey's father. He begs her not to, and he promises he won't ever see Mendy again. Mendy is outraged, and she calls him a traitor. Losing Jeffrey as her friend, though, leaves Mendy with nobody to turn to for help when she starts having serious problems at her clearing. She sees signs of trespassers, and she tries to warn them away. But the trap she sets causes even more trouble. Mendy learns that the trespassers are not bored teenagers, like she thought, but adults with dangerous intentions. How can Mendy and Jeffrey fight evil---especially from people they have known all their lives?

CIRCLE OF FIRE is a well-written book about life in the segregated South. It's based on a true event, and the facts of life that it presents about those days are very real. You will want to read about how things were, and the brave people who were determined to change them forever.

Answered at 11:10 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer

What type of writer is Malika Booker? Pls share her biography and bibliography?

Asked by Anne Frank in Books & Authors at 11:06 PM on February 05, 2009

myjunction's Answer

Malika Booker is a writer, spoken word and multidisciplinary artist, whose work spans literature, education and cross-arts. She has appeared world-wide both independently and with the British Council. She was one of the touring poets with Bittersweet in 1999/2000 and since has featured in the spoken word project, Modern Love, and in Kin at the Barbican in 2004 - a show incorporating words, music and visuals. She was commissioned to co-produce a poetry film to commemorate the Royal Festival Hall's 50th Birthday Celebrations in Spring 2001. Her first musical play, Catwalk, commissioned by NITRO, ran at the Tricycle Theatre in June 2001 and had a successful UK tour.

She was Hampton Court Palace writer in residence in 2004, and is now a commissioned writer for Croydon Museum. In 2005 she undertook a two-month writer fellowship in Delhi, to work on her first novel.

She is an experienced creative writing course leader and has run courses for various organisations including The Arvon Foundation, National Theatre and the Young Vic. She worked with young people for the Inner-London Teenager Poetry Slam in 2003 and 2004, which resulted in two collections of their writing, Where I'm From, Where I'm Going and The Way We See It, The Way It Is.

Malika Booker also jointly runs 'Malika's Kitchen', a writers' collective based in London and Chicago. Her latest play, Unplanned, opened in Spring 2007, with a run at Battersea Arts Centre. Her book, Breadfruit, was also published in 2007.

Genres (in alphabetical order): Drama, Fiction, Poetry, Storytelling

Bibliography:

Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry (contributor) Women's Press, 1998

IC3: The Penguin Anthology of New Black writing (contributor) Penguin, 2000

KIN: Commemorative Tour Anthology (contributor) renaissance one, 2004

The Way We See It, The Way It Is (contributor) Lynk Reach, 2004

Breadfruit Flipped Eye Publishing, 2007

Answered at 11:07 PM on February 05, 2009

Read answer