Happily Ever Over: An Epic Illustrated Fairy Tale by C Merry

C Merry has created an epic rambling fairy tale that weaves her own modern perspective through the classic stories that children have been familiar with for centuries. The result is both humorous and unsettling. C Merry combines these tales with mythology and Christmas to explain things that have been long forgotten. It’s a beautiful way to start the holidays. You’ll find out that the Pied Piper had money troubles and was working out of his van. Santa Clawz is a wormhole-travelling wildman who began the holiday tradition of sneaking into houses to counteract the effects of war. Instead of dropping bombs, he dropped gifts. He was also descended from grizzly bears.

The story unfolds over a series of partially animated illustrations that are gorgeously detailed, showing squiggly pen lines inside every detail. These pictures are backed by a dense and mysterious soundscape.

What C Merry seems to be doing is connected the world’s most charming tales for children to the much deeper and darker subterranean world of mythology. It works. She has created a mystical world of danger and beauty.

You can also read the entire illustrated tale at the author’s blog.

Artie Knapp Children’s Book Announcement and Online Tales

Artie Knapp writes marvelous, cheerful and gently humorous tales for children.  He’s been offering his stories to this site for years and I always look forward to a new one.  Knapp’s latest accomplishment is an illustrated book of stories published by Mighty Book, Inc. and illustrated by Mike Motz. The stories included were previously published by Detroit Free Press/Yak’s Corner.  It will be available soon and I’ll post an update when it hits the shelves!

In addition to the upcoming print collection, Knapp has begun offering his children’s stories through Mighty Book’s web site.  His recent story, Stuttering Stan Takes a Stand, is available as an animated read-aloud/read-along that is a perfect way to introduce your kids to the Artie Knapp story universe.  I am proud to say that I produced the audio and narration for the read-along and I think Mighty Book has done a wonderful job creating an interface for children.

It has also won some recent awards, including the Speech Woman’s Speech-Language Pathology Site of the Month Award for January 2011 and the Stop, Think, & Speak Award, which was a student nominated award from Penn State University.

You can also buy Stuttering Stan Takes a Stand from Amazon.

Mighty Book will soon publish more Knapp stories, including The Wasp and the Canary, The Hummingbird Who Chewed Bubblegum, and There’s a Crocodile in Our Pickle Jar, as fully illustrated Flash-animated books.

An Awesome Book

dallas_clayton_an_awesome_world_Dallas Clayton is an author who has written and illustrated An Awesome Book.  It’s about making sure your dreams are enormous.  Petty little dreams are so out.  Big huge ones with rockets on their backs are ultra-in.

I like the looks of this book and I really like big dreams whenever they come around.  I like the way the author draws too.

You can purchase Mr. Clayton’s book here.

But you can also read the whole entire thing for free right here.

I think you should read it online and then buy one or two to give away.

Igraine the Brave: Children’s Book About Saving a Castle Full of Books

Here’s a marvelous children’s book for Children’s Book Week. Igraine the Brave is by Cornelia Funke. It’s published by The Chicken House Ltd. Reading ages are 9 – 12.

Princess Igraine dreams of becoming a famous knight just like her great grandfather, but the truth is, life at the family castle is rather boring. Until the nephew of the baroness-next-door shows up. He’s got a dastardly plan to capture the castle and claim as his own the wonderful singing spell books that belong to Igraine’s magician parents. To make matters worse, at the very moment of the siege, her mom and dad botch a spell, turning themselves into pigs! Aided by a Gentle Giant and a Sorrowful Knight, it’s up to Igraine to be brave and save the day–and the books!

The whole idea of defending a castle full of magic books is perfect for a week that celebrates children’s books.

Get Igraine The Brave

1000 Times No: Book Promo Film

The creator of Cartoon Network’s Codename: Kids Next Door, Mr. Warburton, has written a children’s book called 1000 Times No.  Noah’s mother says it’s time to leave, but the little multilingual baby shouts ‘No!’ in every possible language.  The promo film stands on its own and is very amusing.

1000 Times No on Amazon

I found this via Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew.