Blog Posts by Subject: Mythology and Folktales

According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 2013 is the Year of the Snake. In the Chinese zodiac, the snake is equivalent to the Taurus in Western tradition. February 10th, 2013 to January 30th, 2014 will mark the Year of the Snake.

In the Chinese zodiac calendar, the snake is the sixth animal and symbolizes grace and calmness — it is introspective, cunning, and modest, but also mysterious, deceptive, and possessive. Those born in 2013, 2001, 

To Ride the Gods' Own Stallion by Diane Lee Wilson, 2000

In 640 BC, in an ancient Assyrian kingdom, 13-year-old Soulai created horses and other animals out of clay and decorative harnesses. Soulai's father said that he should never have been born, and continues in that vein when he sells Soulai to a king in order to repay a debt. His father's apology does little to mollify 

By C Jill Reed via Flickr.Since we can't visit all the great statues across the country in observance of Paul Bunyan Day, we're reading about the larger-than-life lumberjack and his best blue buddy, Babe (and, of course, celebrating anything really tall)!

You can find lots of Paul Bunyan stories online 

Earlier this year, the NYPL Manuscripts and Archives division acquired the papers (PDF finding aid) of the acclaimed novelist and children's book author Lore Segal. The collection contains letters and literary manuscripts documenting her life as a Jewish refugee in England during World War II and her subsequent writing and teaching career. Among the papers is a small, but 

Introduction of Speakers

Elizabeth Bird started the Children's Literary Salon, as usual, with an introduction of the speakers: Constance Vidor, Sharon Elswit, Pnina Moed Kass, and Rebecca Linde. Linde is the director of sponsorship and marketing for the New York International Children's Film Festival. She explained that the program would be started by a presentation on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) 

Popular fairy tales are coming back to life in the 21st century to put true love to the test once again in a time travel battle between good versus evil.

Once Upon a Time is a drama filled with adventure and fantasy. Every fairy tale character is linked to another in a parallel, ancient world full of mystery and magic They are all entangled and stuck under a spell in the small town of Storybrooke, Maine, where Regina Mills (the Evil Queen) is the mayor.

Wait a minute... What's going 

Most people have experienced brushes with the Otherworld, that liminal place where dimensions overlap and reality shimmers, shivers, and breaks apart: seeing ghosts, dreaming "true" dreams, meeting that strange and uncannily helpful "person" at just the right moment... These situations are more common than we collectively admit — but attitudes are shifting. According to the Institute of Noetic Sciences, "The paranormal is no longer a fringe subject. Need proof? Only 32 percent of Americans report no 

According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. In the Chinese zodiac, the dragon is equivalent to the Aries in Western tradition.

January 23, 2012 to February 9, 2013 will mark the Year of the Dragon. According to tradition, the dragon is the fifth animal in the Chinese zodiac and symbolizes loyalty — it is noble, gentle, and intelligent, but also tactless, stubborn, and dogmatic. Those born on 2012, 2000, 1988 or any 

Ancient Egypt has long held a fascination for the West. The idea of Egypt was transmitted to Roman culture through Greek accounts, and after Late Antiquity, existed in the European imagination as an exotic and ancient location in the Bible's Old Testament account of the 6th century BCE Israelite diaspora.

The Western Mystery Tradition had its earliest beginnings in the cult of Isis, which reached Rome in the 

Pearl is like a lot of 16-year-old girls. She likes to steal cars and drive too fast with her handsome, dangerous boyfriend Jadrien. She wears a lot of black. She is extremely flammable in direct sunlight.

Okay. Maybe Pearl isn’t exactly an average teenage girl. But she is an average vampire. Completely ordinary and almost completely evil, Pearl is the perfect predator at the top of the food chain in her Connecticut town. And she is fine with that.

With the vampire king of New England coming soon for the annual fealty ceremony that marks the start of a 

In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to avoid the typical horror films of vampires, zombies, ghosts,

When Brynn was four years old, her life changed forever when a rogue werewolf killed her parents. Rescued by the Stone River Pack and Marked by the pack’s alpha, Callum, Brynn’s safety is a matter of pack law.

The only problem is Brynn is human. Even as a member of the pack, living with a bunch of werewolves is dangerous. Weres can smell fear. They are faster. They are stronger. Most of them are older and more experienced. One lapse in control could leave a human very dead.

Even if that human is a 15-year-old girl named Brynn who knows almost 

Lily Carter’s future is at Princeton University. Her grandfather went to Princeton. Going to Princeton would allow Lily to move away from home without feeling guilt about not taking care of her mother. It’s the perfect school. Most importantly, Lily desperately wants to follow in Grandpa’s footsteps to make him and her mother proud.

Turns out her chance at Princeton might come sooner than she thinks when Lily accompanies her grandfather and mother to Princeton Reunions weekend where, thanks to Grandpa’s connections, Lily has a chance to take 

Thank you for joining this month’s Reader’s Den featuring Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Although the month is over, feel free to return to this post to continue to discuss and comment on the novel.

If you enjoyed Incarceron you might also enjoy the titles below:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne 

I hope all of you enjoyed Incarceron by Catherine Fisher this month as much as I did.

Feel free to share your favorite moments, characters, or whatever below.

Here are some discussion questions to sink your teeth into:

What did you think of the ending? Did you anticipate the prison's location or was it a total surprise? Finn, Keiro, Claudia and even Attia are not always morally upright. How did you feel about reading about a 

Incarceron was originally published in Great Britain in 2007 before coming to US readers three years later in 2010. The Times also selected Incarceron as its book of the year. In 2007 Incarceron was also selected as a finalist in the YA Science Fiction and Fantasy category of the Cybils—a book award given each year by book bloggers.

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to 

Greetings and welcome to the May installment of The Reader's Den.

This month we'll be reading Incarceron (2010) by Catherine Fisher.

Incarceron is a prison like no other.

It is a closed system; nothing enters the prison. And nothing ever leaves. Incarceron was built to be self-sufficient. Nothing goes to waste. Food is recycled, materials made over and over. 

The idea of girls masquerading as boys to infiltrate the male world is not new; in fact, it's a literary staple. From William Shakespeare to Amanda Bynes, all it takes is some cloth to bind and flatten the chest, short hair, a lowering of the voice, some rolled up socks artfully placed, and voila — a boy is born! Of course, it also helps if there is a clueless boy who befriends the masquerader and then suddenly begins to question his sexuality when he wants to kiss the girl in disguise. And, to make things even more complicated, another girl arrives on the scene. 

Okay, I confess, I am a history geek and an Anglophile, meaning I am sucker for anything with a bit of British history and culture. However, that doesn’t mean dry, boring or high brow. I still insist that the historical novels I read be interesting, fun to read, and perhaps romantic, and if they have magical elements, even better! The fairies, witty dialogue, and romance may pull you in, but you finish the book with a better understanding of history and society without even realizing it.   The Legend of Tam