Halloween 1

Child of Faerie, Child of Earth, written by Jane Yolen and Illustrated by Jane Dyer

This month's read aloud on my storytelling site is a Halloween story that is near and dear to my heart.


From a storyteller’s perspective  - "Child of Faerie, Child of Earth,"  is an exquisite example of the ideal story – the perfect marriage of picture, text, and that circular quality that we Celts love ( when St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, he acknowledged the Celtic love of the circle and so placed it over the cross, and thus we have the CELTIC CROSS) and so the end of this story circles back to the beginning with an admonition:

“Be brave, be bold, be unafraid and join that faerie ring!”



Notice the word RING - another word for circle.

How's that for a story that ENCOURAGES your child?  

The French word for courage is LA  COEUR. 

So when we read GOOD stories to our little ones, 

we are feeding their hearts - making them bigger and better and 

kinder!

And of course, it is a story about  faeries – and you cannot be Irish and not love faeries!

Finally, the story's theme addresses that age old human dilemma of yearning for something which you can never have -in this case, neither the faerie child not the human child can live in each other's land.  As someone who married a "foreigner," and ended up leaving my homeland to go and live in "another land," I know that dilemma full well.

So, it is a story that reminds me of my own human frailty, but at the same time feeds my heart with its beauty and truth and love.  

A GOOD way to celebrate this upcoming HOLY EVENING of HALLOWEEN!