This book is done in very similar format to Snow, Snow, also by Jason Stemple and Jane Yolen, although Snow, Snow holds together a little better due to the more constant nature of the pictures. However, this book is a little bit better geared for use in the classroom when discussing water, and its different forms.

Welcome to the Sea of Sand, is an excellent informational book for younger children. It shows children that the desert can be a home for many types of wildlife and plants. It also has fun facts listed that impress children and who knows, maybe will impress adults too!

The first of these I have read was ELF FANTASTIC, actually, that was the first anthology of different authors I have read, but I digress. ELF FANTASTIC was a brilliant collection and I highly recommend it, there is one particular story that still sends shivers down my spine at the thought. Then I read CASTLE FANTASTIC and a few others... Most recently however, I have read WIZARD FANTASTIC, and although not as good as some of the others, this is a book I praise to the high heavens. GET THIS BOOK, or at least another of these collections!

Some of the stories in this book are wonderful- however, others are just too eclectic for my tastes. "The Hound of Merin", while strange, "A Boy and His Wolf", "Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage", and "The Pale Thin God", for examples, all captured my attention and made me think. However many of the stories, such as "Pale Moon" and "Owlswater" just confused me. Nonetheless, I would definetly recommend this book.

_Twice Upon a Time_ is a glib, sarcastic take on fairy tales. Yes, a few of the retellings are serious, but most of them are attempts at poking fun at the conventions of fairy tales. I like these sorts of stories when they are well done, but most of these stories seem to be groaners rather than side-splitters; farces whose main purpose seems to be dragging every single fairy tale cliche into every single story. I mean, seriously, does a detective story about Rumpelstiltskin, which was just getting interesting, really need Hansel and Gretel barging into the plot? Many of the stories are like this. Just throw the ten or so most famous fairy tales into a blender and see what comes out, and top it off with a forced wittiness. If you're looking for cheesy fairy tale humor, check this out. Otherwise, look up Datlow and Windling.

Twice upon a Time is an anthology of eighteen fractured fairytales. Taking off on such stories as sleeping beauty, the emperor's new clothes, and Jack and the beanstalk, these stories recast the stories in a new and often humorous form. My favor was True Love (or The Many Brides of Prince Charming), which is hilariously funny, showing that happily ever after isn't always in the cards for Prince Charming either.

Some of these stories are somewhat off-color, and inappropriate for small children. However, as these stories are not intended to teach uplifting stories, as the original fairytales are, I would recommend against using these stories for small children. That said, though, this book does contain a number of quite entertaining stories, and is a very good read.

This is definatly a great fairy tales book...with a bit of a twist. Okay, more than a bit, but who's counting? My favorite stories: True Love and The Constant Tin Soldier. Although I must say, despite what they say, this book is not for nine year olds. Let's rule out 10 and 11 year olds too. 12 year olds, I think they can handel it. Some of this book is quite, shall we say...vulgar, but I think they should be able to handle it. Over all it's a great book especially if you're looking for a good laugh.

This isn't my favorite of the "Books of Magic"--Summonings takes that honor. It's an interesting tale of Timothy Hunter, perhaps the greatest magician of all time, the illegitimate son of Tam Lin and Queen Titania of the Faeries.

Tim lives as an ordinary boy in our world, with a sloppy but loving father, and a few rather unworldly acquaintances. His father, Tam Lin, occasionally pops up in human form as does the Amadan, a rather repulsive little sprite who waits on Queen Titania. The Queen herself is furious because the Faerie lands are dying, for reasons that no one knows.

Tim has problems of his own when he ventures into the lair of a mysterious - and sinister - creature. This will lead to the discovery of what is killing the Faerie lands, and exact a terrible price in return.

While I found the story tight-paced and enjoyable, I wished they'd give us a little more backstory as to how Tim knows who his true father is. It would've made Titania's comments in the garden a little easier to understand ("we made love and a child in this garden"). I also felt that the explanation for the dying Faerie lands was a little too pat.

The artwork was pretty bad - often it shifted from one frame to another, becoming well-defined in one frame and blurry in another. Dimensions altered. And Titania was terribly drawn - she's supposed to be beautiful, darnit! It looks like they simply took a picture of a none-too-pretty woman and colored her green (not to mention the fact that her teeth often appear the same color as her skin). She looks much better in future books.

However, the atmosphere is unparalleled. The clash with the Manticore was downright chilling, as was the effects on Tim. I was quite surprised by Death's arrival, you'll be surprised at the face and personality of "death." And the last few pages were both sweet and sad.

A nice comic book, hardly flawless but nor is it bad.

this is not where i first said hi to tim, but it's the meeting where you actually exchange a few words about yourself and get a feel for where your relationship is going to go :) needless to say, i like tim, and this is one good reason why. if anything, for his soliloquy at the beginning about love and fear and what holds the universe together. jnr writes uniquely weird stuff, and this is before it all overwhelmed tim and he got... well... a bit ahead of himself maybe. no molly yet, but otherwise, there's always death, isn't it :)

very tantalizing if you start with it (as one should if you don't want the original mini too). also, do not be deceived!! jane yolen just wrote the introduction (it was a very nice introduction, but really, jnr should get first billing, i daresay).

i suppose it may be too short-- only four issues-- but it completes its arc and you won't be disappointed if you like magic.. and boys... and maybe england :)

it was great stuff.i love diving into the magical world of timothy hunter. very enjoyable.

I am a great fan of Jane Yolen's writing - including the Books of the Great Alta. I read Sister Light, Sister Dark several years ago and was lucky enough to find a used copy of White Jenna when it was out of print.

I had high hopes for The One-Armed Queen, but I found it to be a major let-down. I guess that White Jenna really seemed like the end of the story to me - this book seems tacke onto the end. But aside from that, I just found it a little dull, and I had to force myself to keep reading. I've never had that experience with a Jane Yolen book before. Usually, I find her writing engrossing and I devour her books a few days after buying them.

If you're a fan of the Great Alta books, you might as well pick up The One-Armed Queen - but don't go into it with high expectations.

don't get me wrong. i LOVE this storyline, and the first two books were just exceptionally well-written. as one of the other reviewers mentioned, i love the interweaving of myth, legend, history, music, and story in these books, and the actual writing itself is excellent and believable and fast-paced... but this book feels too much like it was written under contract. i feel as though she just arbitrarily killed people off to leave as few loose ends as possible, and the "happily-ever-after" summing-up bit at the end feels hurried and stilted. none of this makes the story less _believable_; on the contrary, the story is reminiscent of some of the bloodier european wars of succession, but it doesn't hold true with the first two books. sure, people die in the first two -- main characters, even! but this is different.

all in all, i was absorbed but disappointed at the end. it was an unnecessary addition to the first two books, and if she didn't want to write it (my interpretation) she shouldn't have written it.

Okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I have to ask . . . *what's the matter with you people???* This was a truly great book ! The plot was fascinating, and the set-up itself was wonderful. The concept of a Dark Sister is a little confusing if you've never read any of the other books in the series (which I haven't but now mean to), but Jane Yolen makes it clear as the book progresses. She didn't bore me with lengthy descriptions of the Dales in the beginning of the book; she showed, rather than told. The little inserts of history and letters that were written years after the story (so to speak) were great, adding a new dimension to the story. And the characters were amazing. Jenna, the White Queen, and her sister Skada. Uncertain of herself, yet brave in her actions, she has become a hero of mine. The brothers Jemsen and Corum----Corum was one of my favorite charaters, so real that he seems a real person. And of course Scillia, the one-armed warrior queen. What a great concept. But perhaps the best part of Scillia was that she did _not_ like war. Killing repulsed her. An original respite to the usual, kill-and-make-jokes-at-the-same-time method that most fantasy books use, thank you very much. And more than that, Scillia was the first true KID in a fantasy book I've seen so far. A moody thirteen-year-old, she found herself angry with her mother or a situation without knowing why. I can relate. In fact, reading this story gave me courage in knowing that I am not the only teen to be discouraged by things in life. And relating to Jenna for awhile helped me to see my mother's point of view as a parent. This is something you rarely see in books. -------- The plot, characters, setting . . . EVERYthing was original. And the songs in the back of the book were gorgeous. I sing "The Two Kings" and "The Dark Sister Lullaby" all the time. The music is simple but beautiful. So please, give this book a chance. It made me smile, it made me cry (and I don't cry when I read books), it made me proud to be a woman. The queen lives.

I never really cared for any of the books I read by Jane Yolen (there are a few exceptions, such as Commander Toad), and I include this book as one of them. The plot seemed to lack something, and I finished the book with a vaugely dissatisfied feeling. I would've given it two-and-a-half stars if I could've

An ancient dragon teaches young Arthur some valuable lessons. I have enjoyed Yolen's other fantasy and dragon books better.

My son and I raced through this book (on separate but concurrent tracks). While he enjoyed it thoroughly, he was disappointed at the turn at the end. I must admit that I was a bit let down, too. The advantage of reading the book together, tho, is talking about it. In the discussion following our reads, we both made peace with the story. It is really a lovely story about truth, friendship, and courage--as well as a fun spin on the Arthur legend. I would not recommend it for kids who love knight/dragon/adventure books, unless they were thoughtful readers or have a thoughtful guide.

This book is found in most libraries in the "easy reading area". It is designed for readers between the ages of 4 to 8. The book attempts to describe various monsters and ways to defend against them; however, the text, despite being a poor example of proper grammar and extremely difficult to follow, is really a very grotesque and violent description of how these monsters terrify, kill and devour innocent children. For example: The text states how a vampire "drinks blood", "your blood", "from your neck where the big vein beats under your chin", "the Jugular". It states that the Sphinx "...eats flesh", "Human flesh". Referring to Frankenstein's Monster, it states that Frankenstein was "made like a patchwork quilt, with bits and pieces of dead people all sewn together". The text states that you may see the Gargoyle "...scratching itself in nasty places." Finally, in the description of the Ogre and Ogress, the text reads "they like to eat people. They like people burgers, and people meatloaf, and especially people pizza." The illustrations alone are more than enough to be quite concerned about. The vampire illustration depicts a wide-eyed Dracula type monster with blood dripping from his fangs and an equally grotesque vampire bat perched on his shoulder. In front of this monster is an unsuspecting fear stricken young girl on her knees in a graveyard. The illustration of the Ogre and Ogress shows the face of a fear struck young boy as he watches a man, a woman and a young boy eat ground up human flesh, complete with eye balls. Despite the fictitious nature of the book, the illustrations and text are clearly inappropriate for the books intended audience. Both the text and illustrations are more apt to instill fear in young children rather than to stimulate their imagination. Processing the real from the imagined in the mind of a young child is often times a difficult task which usually requires parental influence to assist children with the distinction. This book does nothing to assist parents with that responsibility. I do not recommend this book to any audience. A big disappointment by a quality author and illustrator.

My 5 year old son loves this book. He brought it to school with him and it was all he and his friends could talk about. The monsters are scarey, but it does tell how to get rid of them, which is very important to the younger set. I think my son was also fascinated by the stories behind the monsters. At his age he knows only some of these by name and few by reputation. It actually took the edge off of some of the monsters. Fear of the unknown is worse than fear of the known.

The variety of monsters, not just halloween favorites, was also a plus. The Loch Ness monster, the Sphinx, Medusa are each a perfect jumping off spot to talk about geography or history. I found it fun too.

This review is aimed towards teachers and librarians. Meet the Monsters by Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple might actually be scary to 3rd graders because of the vivid illustrations, but fifth graders are delighted - the scarier the better. The authors collaborated on the book through the Internet via e-mail rather than working together in person, and I think the idea of that kind of collaboration is an important way to illustrate yet another use for the Net. Unusual for a picture book, it has a bibliography. Students can use their card or electronic catalog to search for books on the bibliography and hopefully grasp the idea of research as a skein of knowledge. Finally, the presentation of monsters from so many different cultures can lead to other folktales or research on a specific monster as well as the creation of new monster stories. Like so many of Jane Yolen's books, Meet the Monsters touches on human emotions, fear and humor. Her inclusion of monster fighting methods can also provide discussion of how one does protect oneself in a scary world.

This book has a great title, but that's about it. My 10 year old daughter thought the stories were boring. We were very surprised by the amount of violence in these stories, and cannot recommend the book for that reason.

Jane Yolen fans hungry for female heroes will be sorely disappointed by this collection. The "heroic" deeds in many of these stories are pointless. The epic tone and flat characters make for dull reading. The stories are drawn from diverse cultures, but so many details are left unexplained that we are left with a pageantry of exotica. None of the heroes feel like real people with whom girls can identify. The 1 star is awarded to Yolen's introductory comments about girl heroes and her granddaughters' letter of response.

Although Jane Yolen is an excellent story-teller (her descriptive language and easy dialog make for a very fun read), I didn't enjoy this collection as much as I might have.

The book begins with an "open letter" to the author's daughter and granddaughters which contains quite a good summary of the various women warrior-types throughout history and throughout the world and hints at sources where you can find more information. However, she also makes several alarming statements that colored my reading experience.

First, she states that stories about heroic women have been "hidden... disguised... mutilated... truncated." Now, I'm not a scholar of folklore, or even an avid reader of it, but even I was familiar with many of the tales she included in her book. So I feel that Yolen may have been a bit over-dramatic on this point.

Another alarming statement is her explanation of why she only uses the term "hero" even though her protagonists are female--"Because heroines... sound like lesser or minor heroes, just as poetess and authress sound as if they are not as good as their male counterparts." This sentence caught me by surprise, since, as a woman, I would take no more offense at being described as an authress as I would at being described as a "chica" rather than a "chico" in a Spanish class. Using a specialized word such as "heroine" simply allows more clarity if it better suits the purpose of the author.

At any rate, I felt that this letter revealed the author to be super-sensitive to feminist issues and perceives her gender to be attacked at any hint of a difference between men and women. The letter was flavored with a bitterness that presented the book almost as a revenge against men rather than a valuable collection to be enjoyed.

That being said, I couldn't help but read Yolen's stories without a heightened sensitivity to issues of male vs. female. Here's what I found...

First out of the gate is "Atalanta the Huntress" which begins like this: "There was a king named Iasus, a cruel, unfeeling man who took his newborn daugter into the Calydonian forest on the far borders of his kingdom. There he put her down on the forest floor saying, 'I wished for a boy, and this is what I got. I will not have you.' Then he turned and left." Lovely. Here I'm thinking, "Gee. Jane Yolen really hates men." But there's more! Later in the story, Atalanta seeks help from the royal court. There all the "heroes" ignored her. One says, "Who is this mere girl who would hunt with heroes?" Even the prince, who agrees to take her along on the hunt, is only sizing her up as a potential wife.

The second story begins by describing a tall, strong man who also happened to be ugly. Very ugly. His daughter is also tall and strong, but she is also beautiful and smart. Hmmm..... Later when the daughter offers to help fight the evil hippo, the ugly man refuses, echoed by his hunter pal, "You are but a female... this is too dangerous a thing for a mere girl."

In the next story the man kidnaps young girls and cuts them into pieces. In the next story the man ties the woman to a tree, exposed to the elements and the wild animals because she disobeyed his orders. In the next story, the authorities (presumably men) ask the brave young girl who is volunteering to try to kill a giant serpant plaguing their village, "What can you, a mere girl, do that ten men could not?" And so on...

Sure, these same character types are in countless folktales and legends. But placed in the context of the author's introduction, they take on a whole new potency of evil. It's as if Yolen is trying to teach the reader by repitition that men are unfeeling, men are untrustworthy, men are dangerous...

The final nail in the coffin was Yolen's choice to include the ending part of the story, "Atalanta the Huntress." In it, Atalanta challenges each of her many suitors to a foot race. The first suitor to defeat her wins Atalanta's hand in marriage. We've all heard the story... the suitors never even have a chance, so strong and swift is Atalanta. But finally, one wily suitor tosses golden apples on the path before her and, as Yolen says, "Atalanta could not take her eyes off the golden fruit. She desired it above all things. Stooping down, she picked it up. And [the suitor] passed her by." As far as I'm concerned, this is a huge jab at women--a statement that women are fickle and unstable, ruled by their passions and incapable of overcoming obstacles. Why in the world would Yolen choose this story for a book she wrote to liberate the "disguised" and "mutilated" heroines--I mean, heroes--of world folklore?

The high point of the book is the section of notes at the end. Yolen explains where she found the stories and what parts she changed as she rewrote them. This, and the bibliography, allows for further research and perhaps a more objective look at the tales as they have been passed down through the ages.

In conclusion, I feel this potentially thrilling collection is extremely devalued by the author's political intent. If you are looking for a great collection of stories with strong female protagonists (but without the anti-male didacticism), I recommend "The Serpent Slayer and other stories of strong women" by Katrin Tchana. This volume celebrates the differences between the genders, which I feel is far more empowering and constructive than forcing women to live up to--or out-do--a standard set by the actions of men.