Cover of All in the Woodland Early: An ABC Book by Jane Yolen

All in the Woodland Early: An ABC Book

This rhymed ABC book was inspired by an old folksong that begins “One morning, one morning, one morning in May, I saw a young couple a-making their way.” The song is actually one of those love-gone-awry ballads. Originally published by Philomel Books, this was a companion to

Cover of Dream Weaver by Jane Yolen

Dream Weaver

A collection of my original stories, set within a framework in which an old blind weaver weaves “dreams” or tales for individuals who pay her. The final story is one she weaves for herself. Included among others are “The Pot Child” (which was a metaphoric answer to one critic who called my stories

Cover of No Bath Tonight by Jane Yolen

No Bath Tonight

My son Adam was accident prone as a child, his brother Jason hated to take baths. I combined the two of them into Jeremy the star of this picture book. When Grandma comes and manages to get Jeremy into the tub by reading his “kid leaves” I realized that here was the grandmother I wanted to be

Cover of The Mermaid's Three Wisdoms by Jane Yolen

Mermaid’s Three Wisdoms, The

A deaf girl angry with having to wear a hearing aid and refusing to use signing meets a young mermaid thrust out of her community for disobeying their laws. Merfolk sign under the sea, so mergirl (who now has legs) and deaf girl can communicate. Together they rescue a beached dolphin, and

Cover of Spider Jane by Jane Yolen

Spider Jane

This gentle little easy reading chapter book is one of my books that simply got lost. That is, it had nice reviews and few sales. I never understood why. The story is about a house-proud spider and her friend, Bluebottle Burt who helps her keep her web clean. There is a nosy, loud-mouthed bird, and as a bonus, a song at the end.

Cover of Shape Shifters by Jane Yolen

Shape Shifters

This anthology has both original stories (including my much reprinted “Johanna,” about a girl who turns into a deer) and reprints. Weredogs, weredeer and werecockroaches abound. (Yes, I reprinted part of Kafka’s” Metamorphoses.”)

Cover of The Simple Prince by Jane Yolen

Simple Prince, The

The original story was (I thought) better written but I had to revise it downwards for the editor in order to make it fit into a line of easy-readers. An original tale about a prince who decides to live the simple life and discovers just how difficult that is. This book was written during the 1970s

Cover of The Giant's Farm by Jane Yolen

Giants’ Farm, The

This gentle little easy reading chapter book is one of my books that simply got lost. That is, it had nice reviews and few sales. I never understood why. The story is about a house-proud spider and her friend, Bluebottle Burt who helps her keep her web clean. There is a nosy, loud-mouthed bird, and as a bonus, a song at the end.

Cover of The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen

Seeing Stick, The

This original fairy tale about a Chinese princess who is blind is one of my own personal favorites. Surprisingly, I started it after reading an article in the magazine “Field and Stream.” When I first read a draft to my writing group, the last line was not in place. One of the writers asked, “Is the old

Cover of Rounds About Rounds by Jane Yolen

Rounds About Rounds

This mammoth collection was my second song book. Babbie Green is a good friend and professional musician. (Her father was Johnny Green, a Hollywood composer and arranger.) We had a ball working on this. I picked all the songs, found the written music or sung it into a tape recorder and then