Preposterous Fables For Unusual Children
Twice shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Literature, the Preposterous Fables series is a cult favourite amongst children and adults alike. Each book is a poetic, philosophical and preposterous take on a familiar fairy tale, twisted to suit the nefarious purposes of author and illustrator Judd Palmer.
Two of the stories have been produced as touring puppet shows. Watch for The Tooth Fairy by the Old Trout Puppet Workshop and David Rhymer, which may be coming to your town soon.
The Tooth Fairy
The Tooth Fairy
ISBN: 1896209769
4.7 x 6.5; Hc 128pp
$10.95
Around the world, children’s teeth fall out. They tuck them expectantly under their pillows, and go to sleep. And in the dream-haunted night, a creeping creature from another world makes an exchange filled with dread significance: innocence traded for grubby lucre. And Mum and Dad grin in the morning, as if something deeply strange had not occurred in the glooming dark.
It is time for the truth to be told. Witness this tale of Abigail, the Girl With Perfect Teeth. Cheer her crusade to save the world from the Tooth Fairy, and thereby preserve for eternity the innocent happiness of childhood. No more shall our golden days be bought from us!
Media
The Maestro
The Maestro
ISBN: 978-1-96209-78-5
4.7 x 6.5; Hc 128 pp
$10.95
eBook Editions - ISBN: 978-1-897411-40-7
$9.95
-Shortisted for the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Literature
The tale of young Hannah, who loves above all else to sing. What worse curse could have been visited upon her than this: she has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a sorrowful town where music itself is banned from its grim and cobbled streets. What woe has befallen this town? Why are there no children? Why are there no rats?
Hannah will discover the answers to these dread questions in the wilderness wastes, under a mountain. There she discovers a secret orchestra, held captive by an ancient conductor, who remembers his glorious youth – when no-one could resist the beauty he could make with his flute. Could our Hannah be the bridge between two ancient enemies? Might the ghosts of the rats come to her aid? And, most importantly, will she sing once again?
The Wolf King
The Wolf King
Judd Palmer
ISBN: 1-896209-82-3
4.7” x 6.75”, 128p hc
Cdn$14.95 US$12.95
-Shortisted for the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Literature
The story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, the way we've heard it, is not quite
the way it happened. There were mysterious forces at work that awful
night, involving the captain of the guard, a certain girl, and the Boy
himself. The Boy disappeared into the forest, where everybody knew he
was surely eaten by wolves.
Years later, we return to that sorrowful village. It is still beleaguered by
the wolfpacks of the Black Forest, and defended by the vigilant eyes of
the guards on the wall. Our hero is lonely Alfred, a boy whose birth is
somehow entangled in the events of that night; they have hard
consequences for poor young Alfred, whose father is missing and he does
not know why. All he knows is that he loves Martina, and that Martina
could only love a soldier of the Wall who has proved himself with rifle
and sword against the eternal enemies of the village.
One day in the forest, however, he discovers an awful army of wolves is
gathering, led by the strange and marvelous man who calls himself the
Wolf King. The final battle between human and beast is brewing, and
Alfred finds himself at the centre of the coming storm. Whether he can
save the village from the wolves, or save himself from the temptations of
the forest, depends on the secret identity of the Wolf King, and the events
that transpired so long ago.
The Sorcerer's Last Words
The Sorcerer's Last Words
ISBN: 1-896209-84-X
4.7” x 6.75”, 128 pp
Cdn$14.95 US$12.95
In the aftermath of the notorious event of the enchanted broom, the
Sorcerer’s Apprentice learns his lesson indeed: “Seek Truth, not Power,” is
the Sorcerer’s dictum. Peace returns to the castle’s long days, but as obedient
Humboldt grows older, a madness grows in his master. The sorcerer has
discovered strange secrets in the depths of the library. Humboldt’s dreams,
too, are haunted by the broom, and the gods of wood, water and straw
whisper through the halls at night.
One fateful day, they have a visitor: a king has come to demand the alchemical services of the Sorcerer. When the king is denied he responds without mercy,and the
Sorcerer’s gentle philosophy perishes with him in the flames. Humboldt finds himself cast into the world alone, with nothing but his master’s book of spells, and a newly unshackled desire for
forbidden power.
An unleashed Humboldt is a terrible thing to behold. He learns the secrets
of the book and uses it to avenge his master’s murder, and he does not stop
there: he usurps the throne itself. But he cannot escape the broom, which
clatters in the night as Humboldt grows more and more tyrannical. The
kingdom is aflame with bonfires of house-cleaning implements, and the
days grow darker, until the Broom is finally victorious, flooding the imperial
castle and sweeping Humboldt into the depths of the sea for his final
encounter with the Nether God. But is the Sorcerer really as dead as he
appears?
The Giant Killer
THE GIANT KILLER
ISBN: 1896209475
4.7 x 6.5; 128 pp
$10.95
After his prodigious success with the Giant of the Beanstalk, and then subsequent victories over the assorted ogres Cormoran of St. Michael’s Mount, Old Blunderbore (and his brother), Ods Splutter Hur Nails (late of Wales), and so on, Jack the Giant-Killer has almost rid the world of the collossal kind. But disturbing news comes from the far North: a final Giant has unfrozen from the Ice Age, and is wreaking havoc amongst the Inuit. But now Jack is old, made decrepit by the excesses of his fame. Nevertheless, he leaps astride his Golden Hen and goes North in search of the last Giant.
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