Showing results for "Literature" in Myths & Legends

Let your child's imagination soar with 365 Fairy Tales, a magical collection of classic stories filled with enchanting princesses, clever heroes, talking animals, and whimsical adventures. Each story is short, sweet, and designed to teach important lessons about bravery, kindness, and friendship while whisking young listeners away to faraway lands.

An offshoot of the oral tradition of storytelling, the short story shot to prominence in the latter half of the 19th century due to an increased demand for short fiction in magazines and journals. Over time, it established itself as an important and popular genre. From PU Songling's classic Painted Skin, Edgar Allan Poe's sensational The Purloined Letter to Guy de Maupassant's poignant Two Friends, 51 Great Short Stories presents some of the finest works of short fiction.

Each year on the center island, one girl is chosen to be the next Mortal Queen of the idolized fae. The mortals praise these lucky girls, but their daughters are never seen again. The fae realm is eternal night, where disputes are settled by chess matches, power is acquired through the most devious kinds of trickery, and seven illusive kings roam. The fae hide their faces behind masks and guard their glass hearts to keep them from shattering. But beyond the veil of this luxurious paradise, a dark secret simmers, for their Queens have disappeared.

With just one touch, bread turns into roses. With just one bite, cheese turns into lilies. There’s a famine plaguing the land, and Princess Yzabel is wasting food simply by trying to eat. Before she can even swallow, her magic - her curse - has turned her meal into a bouquet. She’s on the verge of starving, which only reminds her that the people of Portugal have been enduring the same pain for years. If only it were possible to reverse her magic. Fatyan, a beautiful Enchanted Moura, is the only one who can help. But she is trapped by magical binds.

After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watching reality television, and doing odd jobs, including squaring up to a cannibalistic faerie. When her twin sister, Taryn, shows up asking a favour, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, whom she loves despite his betrayal.

Long ago the faeries of the great Oak mysteriously lost their magic. Robbed of their powers, they have become selfish and dull-witted. Now their numbers are dwindling and their very survival is at stake. Only one young faery—Knife—is determined to find out where her people's magic has gone and try to get it back. Unlike her sisters, Knife is fierce and independent. She's not afraid of anything-not the vicious crows, the strict Faery Queen, or the fascinating humans living nearby.

When the fae king of Naenden returns home to his palace only to find that his human queen has committed treason by conspiring to assassinate him, he has the queen executed and decrees that once every mooncycle, he’ll marry a human woman from the kingdom, only to execute her the following morning. Unless one woman offers herself as a sacrificial bride for the rest.

The future world has been divided into sectors - each the same as the other. Surrounded by thick steel fences, there is no way in and no way out. Yet a cyborg army penetrates each sector, picking off its citizens one by one, until no one is left. Behind the sectors’ thick walls, the citizens wait to die. Few will be chosen to survive what’s coming; the rest will be left behind to suffer. A new world has been created, and its rulers are incredibly selective on who will become a citizen. They want only those with important roles in society to help create a more perfect future.

Rich in imagination and romance, and based on the legends and history of the Aztec and Maya people, the Age of the Seventh Sun trilogy brings to vivid life a world on the edge of apocalyptic disaster.

In uno sperduto villaggio ai confini della tundra russa, l'inverno dura la maggior parte dell'anno e i cumuli di neve crescono più alti delle case. Ma a Vasilisa e ai suoi fratelli non importa, perché adorano trascorrere le notti riuniti accanto al fuoco, ascoltando le fiabe della loro balia. Vasya ama soprattutto la storia di Frost, il demone invernale dagli occhi blu, che appare nelle notti gelide per reclamare le anime incaute. Per questa ragione i saggi russi lo temono e onorano gli spiriti affinché proteggano le loro case dal male.

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Noelle Perrault has felt drawn to the tales her glassmaker father told of the four Firefly artisans since she was a child. But when her mother falls under a curse, Noelle suspects the stories are more than mere fables. Their last hope is for her father to embark on a desperate journey to another realm, where he must seek a miracle. Alone but not defenseless, Noelle is forced to navigate battles that rise against her beloved home, while her dearest friend, the prince, vows to help her father.

In the wild and lush kingdom of Twinsbane, everyone has a look-alike, and each twin is cursed to die when their double breathes their last. When an ancient plague arises, the kingdom’s only hope is to sever these deadly ties. Yet King Daccias refuses to relinquish the cure, a legendary potion called the Separator.

Gods do exist. And if the scroll in my hands says the truth, they have a secret academy where their recruits train to become demigods. I’ve done really bad things in my life, but stealing Callie’s opportunity to attend the God’s Academy? It’s got to be the worst. If Gods find out I’m a faker, what was supposed to be someone else’s gift may turn into my personal curse.

On Zara's twentieth birthday, she expects to be married to the love of her life, not stolen by the Shadow Prince and hurled into a world where death awaits her at every turn. For one year, she is forced to endure dangerous trials intended to entertain the fae. Determined to do whatever it takes to survive and return to her home, Zara seeks an escape, but what she never expects is to find herself indebted to the Shadow Prince himself.

This bundle includes Volume 1: Stars, Volume 2: Seas, and Volume 3: Shadow.

Before Manisha, the youngest of three sisters, was sent to hide on the floating mountain, her eldest sister, Eshani, made a deal with the shades. In order to save her people in the midst of a tragic war, she exchanged her life for theirs. Now, years later, the shades claim their due, dragging Eshani into the Nightmare Realm where she must find the Gatekeeper to fulfill her end of the bargain. Nothing is as it seems in a land filled with ravenous monsters, ghoulish residents, and a river full of the dead. But most terrifying of all is the Shadow King.

Penelope Weaver hat sich ihr ganzes Leben lang darauf vorbereitet, die Anaximander-Akademie zu besuchen, wo die griechische Mythologie zum Leben erweckt wird. Penelope weiß, dass sie eine Athena ist – wie alle klugen, praktischen und regeltreuen Mädchen, die an bedeutenden Mythen beteiligt sind. Aber als Penelope und ihr Zwillingsbruder Paris an der Akademie ankommen, geht schief, was nur schiefgehen kann. Penelope wird nicht bei Athena untergebracht, sondern bei Aphrodite, die alles andere als praktisch veranlagt ist.

Red hat ein Problem. Ever ist tot und Jaz ist fort. Ganz im Gegenteil zur zombifizierten Bevölkerung des Märchenwalds, die mit der Büchse der Pandora in Kontakt kamen und Rapunzel dafür zur Verantwortung ziehen wollen. Und dann wäre da noch die Dreizehnte Fee, die Hexe Bane und Prinzessin Jasemin, die allesamt (und jeweils) Rache an Red und ihrer Gang geschworen haben.

There was a time when the woods near Duva ate girls - or so the story goes. But it's just possible that the danger may be a little bit closer to home. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone.