Showing results for "Childhood" in Fantasy

Elphie is a girl like any other and no other. Nothing like her parents - one beautiful, the other pious - nor her saintly sister, Nessarose. Her skin is green, her mind is cunning. One day she will command this strange and wonderful world. For now, her journey is just beginning. The road ahead is full of lessons and heartbreak, the first bruising attempts at friendship - and tantalising whispers of magic. It will lead Elphie to the doors of Shiz University, and to the girl who will change her life forever.

Set in the heart of North Yorkshire and incorporating local myths, legends, and historical facts, this is the fantasy story of John Twigg, a young man with everything to live for. But, despite a loving family and an adoring girlfriend, he makes the fatal error of falling under the spell of a beautiful upper-class girl. Unable to sustain his own anguish and unhappiness at his betrayal, he curses himself and is thrown back in time from 1999 to the year 1544 by a force that he cannot possibly comprehend.

Grace has always wanted to be a ballerina, ever since she first peered through the windows of the Near North Ballet company. The elegance of the dance seemed transcendent to an immigrant child of the working poor, and so, when she is orphaned, it is to the ballet that she flees. Years later, Grace is on the verge of becoming the company's new prima ballerina - though she is beginning to realise that achieving her long-held dream may not be the triumph she once envisioned.

Maggi Peirce writes, "In everybody's mind there are memories that cannot be erased. In my last semester at Southeastern Massachusetts University, Dr. Norman Rehg asked that we write a story weekly. The entire class groaned. 'Now, now, don't fuss,' he said. 'All I want is an anecdote.' The word anecdote made all the difference, and I...haven't looked back since." These autobiographical stories sketch the world Maggi inhabited in her Belfast childhood in the 1930s and 1940s. That world is gone, but the feelings and experiences speak a universal language that resonates even today. The collection includes "A Friend of My Father's," "The Lucky Package," "The Most Beautiful Doll in the World," "John Knox," "Mine Hut Er Hat Drei Ecken," "The Haunted House," and "The Awakening."

Hoffmann's stories are imaginative, wise, and educational, just how children's stories are supposed to be. Some of his characters instill fear, while others overcome it and continue towards their goal in the surreal world of this great storyteller. Hoffmann's world will awaken the imagination of your child.

An aged, decrepit old woman wanders the quiet hallways of her home. She remembers a day when they were brighter, more kinetic with anticipation of life within their walls. Family was a regular occurrence, and the tinkling laughter of grandchildren used to echo through the house. Oh, how she missed those times, as she now hobbles oh-so-slowly with her cane through the archaic old home. And as the old woman wanders, reminiscing through the halls, she comes upon a door. Rusty hinges amplify groan of age as the door swings slowly open, and she balances herself in the doorway.

Was there really a Headless Horseman? This dramatic story will draw you into the life of Ichabod Crane as you ponder the question.

Some of the most famous children tales to be enjoyed by the whole family.