By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff is well-known throughout Europe, and perhaps even further afield. But what is less well-known is that the story has its origins, not in French or German or Danish literature, like many other fairy tales that are well-known to English-speaking readers, but in Scandinavian literature.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’ is a poem by Lewis Carroll, one of the two acknowledged masters of Victorian nonsense verse (along with Edward Lear). Although the poem is among his most popular, after ‘Jabberwocky’, ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’, and The Hunting of the Snark, its curious origins are less well-known.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
In some ways Scandinavia’s answer to the tale of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, ‘The Tinder Box’ was one of Hans Christian Andersen’s first fairy tales. ‘The Tinder Box’ contains a number of common fairy-tale tropes: the magic helper with the ability to grant wishes, the ‘rags to riches’ motif, a witch, and a beautiful princess trapped in a castle.
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys a slim but beautifully illustrated short from the world(s) of His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman’s new book, Serpentine
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Ever since the Victorians, fantasy fiction has been a huge part of children’s literature. Indeed, classic fantasy novels for children actually emerged some time before serious fantasy literature for adults – modern fantasy, at least – became popular. In this post, we introduce 12 must-read fantasy novels for children and younger readers. Which classic novels have we missed off the list?