Showing 246 Result(s)
Cover of Milkweed Days by Jane Yolen

Milkweed Days

My children and our acres of milkweed inspired this book about the day in the life of a little boy and his brother and sister. Local photographer Gabe Cooney took the pictures. The children were four, six, and eight at the time. We called the title page picture of Adam in the photographer’s oversized

Cover of The Little Spotted Fish by Jane Yolen

Little Spotted Fish, The

An original fairy tale about a fisherlad who meets a magical talking fish and rescues her, done with his own skills and not magic. I love the story, but the pictures puzzle me. It is clearly a Celtic story–all the clues are there: a green island, a coracle (a skin boat) and references to Irish poets and Scottish folk

Cover of Rainbow Rider by Jane Yolen

Rainbow Rider

This folk parable of friendship began with the rock-and-roll song “Joy to the World” in which the group Three Dog Night sang “I’m a deep sea diver, I’m a rainbow rider. . .” and it started me thinking. English illustrator Michael Foreman’s glorious color-drenched pictures

Cover of The Boy Who Had Wings by Jane Yolen

Boy Who Had Wings, The

Another one of my original fairy tales, this story came out of our nine-month camping trip in Europe, and especially our time in Greece. A boy with wings is born into a poor herder’s family, and he is considered deformed. But when he saves his father during a freak snow storm, he is

Cover of The Girl Who Loved the Wind by Jane Yolen

Girl Who Loved the Wind, The

An original fairy tale, this story is about a girl whose overprotective father tries to keep her from all things wicked, unhappy, trying, or real. At last the wind blows in over the garden wall and woos her, taking her into the ever-changing world. A fifth grader at the Smith College Campus School pointed

Cover of The Bird of Time by Jane Yolen

Bird of Time, The

This is a straight-forward original fairy tale in which a miller’s son, who has the gift of understanding the speech of animals, finds a bird that can speed time up or slow time down or stop time altogether. With the bird’s help, he rescues a princess from a wicked giant. Interestingly, I began writing the

Cover of The Seventh Mandarin by Jane Yolen

Seventh Mandarin, The

An original fairy tale set in Thailand and based on a line in my kite research which said that the king had kite mandarins who flew his kite at night to keep his soul above the terrors of the night. The story, written during my Quaker phase, is about speaking truth to power no matter what the cost.

Cover of It All Depends by Jane Yolen

It All Depends

I worked on this little rhymed book while we traveled for nine months through Europe, before we had children. But even then I knew the kind of mother/child catechisms of big and little, loud and soft–and how-much-do-you-love-me. Bolognese’s drawings of an African-American family were way ahead of their time.

Cover of The Longest Name on the Block by Jane Yolen

Longest Name on the Block, The

A very New York City book fueled by our recent European trip and the Prince spaghetti commercials of the day in which a young Italian boy is summoned home by his mother’s shouting. This book is about a boy whose name is so long it’s a botheration.

Cover of Greyling by Jane Yolen

Greyling

This is the story of a selchie, human on land and seal in the sea, who is adopted by a fisherman and his childless wife. They raise the boy, Greyling, and keep him from the sea, fearing that if he turned back into a seal he would never return. And then one fateful day, Greyling dives into the sea to