Saturday, October 31, 2009

Fairy Tale Witches Good and Bad


"Hansel and Gretel and the Witch "
Rough drawing (study for figurine) by Scott Gustafson

A quickie post to point you to an excellent list of witches from fairy tales and other classic literature by Kate Coombs, also known online as "The Book Aunt".
Strega Nona
Written & Illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Her list includes Baba Yaga and Strega Nona, as well as some books for both I also recommend. She even includes the awesome story/book called The Talking Eggs that I found only a few years ago. Please note the actual books she recommends for the fairy tales. I can vouch for the illustrations being as lovely as she says.

Here's the fairy tales she includes:

Hansel and Gretel (with the Gingerbread House architect)
Snow White (with her stepmother - or mother, if you prefer)
Jorinda and Joringel (with The Witch of the Wood that gturns into an Owl...)
The Tinderbox or The Blue Light (with an unnamed witch that gets killed)
Rapunzel (with Mother Gothel)
Vasilissa the Brave (with Baba Yaga)
The Fearsome Inn (Jewish folktale)
Strega Nona - she's a good one!
The Talking Eggs (Grimm's Mother Hulda)

Also mentioned is Heckedy Peg (which is an original fairy tale by Audrey & Don Woods)
Bony Legs
Written by Joanna Cole
Illustrated by Dirk Zimmer

You can find Kate's blog and timely list of fairy tale witches HERE.

2 comments:

  1. Wow..great blog..a kindred spirit!...so nice to meet you...please come and visit The Fairy tale at my place...:)

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  2. liked this story for me concerning my children, thank you for sharing this with others, she's always looking for stories browsing to read to my children.

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