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Louise Hawes

Autore di Black pearls : a faerie strand

17+ opere 410 membri 13 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Comprende i nomi: LouiseHawes, Carolyn Carlyle

Opere di Louise Hawes

Opere correlate

A Flight of Angels (2011) — Autore — 185 copie
Love & Sex (2001) — Collaboratore — 68 copie
Be Careful What You Wish for Ten Stories (2000) — Collaboratore — 67 copie
Such a Pretty Face: Short Stories About Beauty (2007) — Collaboratore — 56 copie
Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves (2015) — Collaboratore — 25 copie

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Big Rig, a solid middle school novel, presents a father and daughter who team up to live life on the road.

Hazel rides in the big rig with her trucker dad and her mom's ashes experiencing the world. Hazel and her dad have certain rituals that makes their tiny home (cab of the truck) a place of love and respect. The rules actually make them stop, listen, and think before making decisions. It's a pretty good skill for kids AND parents. Because they are on the road a lot, they have favorite places to stop and enjoy life. Friends live in different parts of the United States as well. It's not just driving through the country. Hazel's dad homeschools her, so she's always learning something. By being on the road, they can also stop at locations to further her education. She's an amazing map reader because her father believes that maps are better than GPS devices. They only use the Internet and GPS as needed. Eventually, Hazel hopes to get her CDL (commercial driver's license) and drive her own truck.

Not surprisingly, many things can happen when out on the open road. Throughout the novel, you meet their friends and experience the unexpected: plane crash, runaway teen, and flood. Each experience requires a different level of "growing up" and showing courage. You can't run when help is needed and you are the one who can supply that help--no matter how hard it is to help or how painful to move on. After all, with trucking, you always move on; there's a schedule to keep. Although Hazel loves the road, there is one house she truly finds as a home. The one she was raised in until her dad could care for her after her mom died. Maze owns the trucking business and Serena is his wife. Hazel tells Serena everything and Serena listens. Hazel can also answer questions that may not want to ask her dad.

The novel warms your heart as you grow up with Hazel--just a little bit--and experience the ups and downs of driving across America.
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
acargile | Feb 23, 2023 |
Author Louise Hawes and illustrator Rebecca Guay together retell an ancient Egyptian fairy-tale in this lovely picture-book. Given a beautiful necklace made of turquoise and carnelian by her father, Muti grows up surrounded by his love, and by the love of her mother and brother. Eventually she becomes a servant in the palace of King Snefru, the Pharaoh of all Egypt. When the Pharaoh's whim sees her pressed into service as the leader of his oar-girls, she does her job well, until the necklace is lost in the Royal Lake. Refusing to take up her oar again, Muti defies the captain, the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh's magician, until finally an awesome act of magic is performed, to allow her to retrieve her beloved necklace...

Originally contained in the Westcar Papyrus - an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories, and dated to between the 18th and 16th centuries BC - this story is indeed one of the oldest recorded fairy-tales in the world. An English translation of it in its original form can be found in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Hawes has taken some liberties with the story in her retelling, focusing on the rowing girl, rather than the king, and giving her heroine a name and a family. It's interesting to note that scholars believe the original was an oblique satire and critique of King Snefru, who is covertly mocked for not being able to control a mere oar-girl without the help of a magician. Hawes has chosen to tell her story from the girl's perspective, making her heroic rather than willful, and centering the narrative on the idea of the power and pull of home and family. As hers is a children's retelling, I think this choice makes sense, and it certainly makes for an engaging narrative. It's also interesting to note that the episode in which the court magician causes the waters of the lake to recede, allowing Muti to walk out onto the lake floor and retrieve her necklace, is reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea, in the biblical book of Exodus. Perhaps this story was an influence on the much-later biblical one, just as the Babylonian Enuma Elish was?

Leaving aside textual issues, Muti's Necklace: The Oldest Story in the World is a gorgeous book, from a visual perspective. The accompanying illustrations from Rebecca Guay are simply breathtaking, capturing the beauty and mystery of Muti's world. Although I am familiar with Guay's work from the cover-art she provided to a number of children's novels - Dia Calhoun's The Phoenix Dance, Jackie French Koller's A Wizard Named Nell, etc. - this is the first of her picture-books I have picked up. I certainly intend to track down more, given how much I enjoyed her work here! Recommended to fairy-tale lovers, and to young children fascinated by Ancient Egypt.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
AbigailAdams26 | 1 altra recensione | Sep 1, 2020 |
I thought the writing was cheesy and cliche. The story and characterization were really shallow.
 
Segnalato
Jen.ODriscoll.Lemon | Jan 22, 2016 |
Remember the fairy tales you put away after experience taught you that no princess is as beautiful as common sense and happy endings are just the beginning?

Black Pearls had two things I love most about fairy-tale retellings: it was dark and its stories were from the POV of a character often overlooked in traditional versions. Hawes' brilliantly shifted the perspective of classic fairy tales so that we're forced to see the story from a whole new angle. Loved it!!

"Dame Nigran's Tower" - 5 stars - I absolutely loved reading the tale of Rapunzel from the "evil witch" POV. I'm sure many parents would read this version and think, "But Tabby was only trying to protect Rampion." I had to wonder, was the narrator (Tabby) entirely honest/reliable? Did Rampion exaggerate the situation to land a prince?

"Pipe Dreams" - 3 stars - A retelling of the Pied Piper which was okay for me. However, I've never really been a fan of the original or its many variations.

"Mother Love" - 4 stars - A dark yet touching retelling of Hansel and Gretel. I could really envision this being the "true" story of such a family. Did Gretel eat her brother to stay alive? Or did they really encounter the witch in a gingerbread house? Whatever the answer, Gretel survived, and she did so because of her guardian angel, whether real or imagined.

"Ashes" - 5 stars - Okay, when it comes to Cinderella, I'm not the biggest fan. There have been a few retellings over the years that draw me closer to liking the fairy tale, but I'm never really sold on it. Hawes' version was the first time I was all-in. Beginning at the night of the ball and told from the POV of Prince Charming who, yes, is reeled in by Cinderella's beauty, but falls in love with her laugh, joy and honesty. In other words, it's who she is not what she looks like. Well, he's not the first person to get suckered by a clever mask and a long con.

"Evelyn's Song" - 5 stars - Jack, the Giant Killer, from the perspective of the magical harp, which is actually an enchanted girl, who, after having failed to obey her aunt, was cursed to do as commanded. The downside being she was transformed into the instrument required to carry out her final order, "Play!"

"Diamonda" - 4 stars - A retelling of Snow White in which one of the dwarfs, Erin, battles his unrequited love for Diamonda. Once she's found her happily ever after, he has to decide if he can live without her.

"Naked" - 3 stars - Combines the nursery rhyme, "Banbury Cross," with the legend of Lady Godiva. However, instead of it being tax relief for the peasants, she's riding naked to atone for her husband's infidelity. I liked this story the least of all the tales in this collection.

Lastly, I don't want to leave out the beautiful illustrations by Rebecca Guay. There was only one per tale but they captured the essence of each perfectly.

5 stars
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
flying_monkeys | 5 altre recensioni | Aug 24, 2015 |

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Statistiche

Opere
17
Opere correlate
5
Utenti
410
Popolarità
#59,368
Voto
½ 3.7
Recensioni
13
ISBN
59
Lingue
1

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