Wide Reading Themes: Into the Forest

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg. Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their father and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious -- and addictive -- gingerbread. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip. And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's own power -- magic she is still trying to understand -- may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

Briar Rose is a historically sensitive retelling of Sleeping Beauty set amid forests patrolled by the German army during World War II. In the heat of midsummer 1942, deep in a forest in the heart of Poland, Briar Rose arrives at a castle that has fallen into the hands of an evil army. Corrupted by dark deeds and choked by a poisonous mist, the castle will soon come to be known as Chelmno extermination camp. And in that place of death, Briar Rose is plunged into a deep sleep.... Ever since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma's stories of Briar Rose. Becca would have sworn the stories were made up, but on her deathbed Gemma extracts from Becca a promise to fulfill three impossible requests: find the castle, find the prince, and find the spell-maker. Her vow sends Becca on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. Yolen's graceful retelling of the German folktale of "Briar Rose"--known to some as "Sleeping Beauty"--sets the story amid forests patrolled by the German army during World War II. Yolen confronts the deeply tragic events of the Holocaust with lyrical prose and rich characterizations that tell a tale of good and evil, hope and despair. The Washington Post called Briar Rose "a terrifically moving story."

The master of wit and irony Published here alongside their evocative original illustrations, these fairy tales, as Oscar Wilde himself explained, were written "partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy."

Serilda and Gild cannot break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid's haunted castle. There they remain trapped for eternity. On the night of the Endless Moon, the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and so be reunited with his lover, Perchta, who has been banished to the underworld. But it soon becomes clear that the Erlking's hunger for vengeance won't be satisfied with a single wish, and his true intentions have the power to alter the mortal realm forever. Serilda and Gild have no choice but to thwart his plans, all the while solving the mystery of Gild's forgotten name, and freeing all the ghosts kept in servitude to the dark ones. As the evil forces gather, it seems only their love is strong enough to sustain them.

Long ago cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller's daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue. Or so everyone believes. When one of Serilda's outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept away into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl the earth and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. The king orders Serilda to complete the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, or be killed for telling falsehoods. In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her, for a price. Love isn't meant to be part of the bargain. Soon Serilda realizes that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of the king and his wild hunt forever.

She was born with her eyes closed and a word on her tongue, a word she could not taste.

Her name was Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt's stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.

From the Grimm's fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own.

Contents: The frog prince - Rumpelstiltskin - The fisherman and his wife - Hansel and Gretel - The musicians of Bremen - The brave little tailor - The golden goose.

As far back as Alice can remember she and her mother have moved from place to place, followed by - and running from - bad luck . . . But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is taken by a figure who claims to have come from the Hinterland, the cruel, supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message she left behind: Stay away from the Hazel Wood.

One morning, young Ruby sets out to visit her grandma's house. She wears a Red Riding Hood to protect her from the forest's evil creatures. But will it? A hungry, old wolf has some evil plans of his own.

Valerie is a young woman who is torn between two men. She is in love with an outsider named Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry a wealthy man named Henry. She is planning to run away with Peter when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls their village. When an expert wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the werewolf could be any one of them.

The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.

This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

The exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes, and she is assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.

Hester Flanders went to the ball for the food. She didn't expect a prince to follow her home. If there's one rule Hester learned during her country upbringing, it's never accept a gift: that's how the Folk get you. Although she's left her farm behind, she can't leave her superstitions, even if no one else in the capital city seems to care. Hardworking but hungry, she's looking for loopholes, and the king's annual Commoners Ball seems like the perfect way to get a free meal that's not technically a gift--and it would have been, too, except a pesky prince took a shine to her. Inglebert Lucas Chesingwick isn't just the crown prince: he's also practical, responsible, and very annoyed to see his younger brother causing a scene by flirting with a peasant at the ball. He can separate them for one night, but his mischievous brother is determined to see the poor girl again. And again. And for some reason, Lucas keeps running into her, too. If only there was some way he could help her ... The princes might mean well, but Hester knows better than to accept favors from anyone, even royalty--even if it's cheese--and even if saying no breaks her heart. After all, just because the Folk have never been seen in the city doesn't mean they're not around ... Cinderella meets Howl's Moving Castle in this cozy fantasy romance from debut author Elisabeth Aimee Brown. Pick up your copy and whirl away into a whimsical story of glittering gaslamps, frisky Folk, and huggable hogs.