The Enchanted Forest Chronicles: (boxed Set)

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Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India. The Chronicles take place in a fairy tale world that gently ribs at and riffs on fairy and folk tale tropes. Magic is everywhere and frequently dangerous, and people react to its presence in their lives accordingly. For example, princess lessons consist in part of learning the appropriate places to scream when carried off by a dragon. A very desirable fate, as the subsequent stream of knights and princes seeking to rescue said princess practically guarantees a good marriage. What is worse is that the injustice delivered by male characters be it Sage Gautam or Lord Ram or Lakshmana or even Ravana is kept veiled under the garb of their duty and morals. They are glorified and presented as noble men who can't be blamed for their actions however cruel or unjust they had been. The book fails here to call spade a spade. The only true negative was the thought bubbles that appeared for the main character. These detailed what she was thinking but much if these thoughts could have been gleamed from the pictures. Honestly, the thought bubbles were a distraction from the story and little else. According to my Goodreads records, I had read all of these previously in 2012 - nearly 10 years ago, so I had largely forgotten them. I enjoyed the re-read.

Bix and Pella’s home underground is threatened when an earthquake happens. While Bix is a cautious worrier who takes caring for her little sister seriously, Pella is a little spitfire with no fear. When Pella hears some other trolls say that the Earth Queen is responsible for the earthquake, she decides to go into the fearful Enchanted Forest to give the Queen a piece of her mind. Bix wakes to find her little sister gone, and while bemoaning Pella’s ability to believe myths as truths and daring to go into the Enchanted Forest no troll has ever returned from, tries to summon the bravery to go after her. But both sisters have something to learn from the adventure, and maybe a Queen or two too. Patricia Collins Wrede ( / ˈ r iː d i/; [1] born March 27, 1953) is an American author of fantasy literature. [2] She is known for her Enchanted Forest Chronicles series for young adults, which was voted number 84 in NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list. [3] Career [ edit ] Voices: Roy Hudd, Richard Pearce, Kate Harbour, John Baddeley, Jimmy Hibbert, Janet James and David Holt. The art was what kept me going with this story. The story was a bit long at times and bumpy. I think that it could have been trimmed just a bit and as a big sister, I would have wished for more of an arc with Pella; the story hinted at it but then nothing happened. I felt a bit like I was overpromised on something. Though Bix's story certainly lived up and beyond! Thank you for that and for Cici's character as I thoroughly enjoyed her. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: How should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’

Which is why it pains me to admit that I couldn't finish The Forest of Enchantments and it numbers among the worst books I have read so far this year.

This one-volume edition is worth having for the author's introductions, which talk about how and why she wrote the books.Dame Washalot, who spends her time washing her clothes and throwing the dirty wash-water down the tree. If she has no clothes to wash, she washes the dirty laundry of other people and even the leaves of the Faraway Tree; The King and Queen take Cimorene on a state visit to a neighboring kingdom. Cimorene learns that they plan to arrange her marriage to an annoying prince named Therandil. Faced with the prospect, Cimorene runs away. She meets a group of dragons and volunteers to become the "captive" princess of the dragon Kazul. Kazul assigns Cimorene to cook for her and organize her library and treasure hoard. This book, is said to be about Sita, her hopes and dreams..... while we all know what happens in Ramayana what The story promises us is a side which is as important as that of The Male; this book though falls short of what it was hoping to achieve by quite a margin; Though we see Sita from when she was born, her relationship with her parents, siblings is peripheral at best, the incidents discussed about her early life seem to be a mere buildup for when she meets Ram; after marriage, she, time and again neglects others for Ram; her relationship with Laxman is stormy, they barely talk and while she thinks about the patriarchal facets of the society, we don’t get to read about any outrage on her part, or she merely feels it for a moment and is again swept away by thoughts of Ram.