Peace Crane by Hilary Taylor

Peace Crane by Hilary Taylor
Picture by Justin Wyatt
To read Hilary's story buy this special book...

This magical story has a touch of the supernatural. When an injured crane is found and nursed, something happens, something magical and inspiring...

Gentle Footprints launched- AS SEEN ON TV

Gentle Footprints was officially launched Fri June 4th at the Hay Festival with guest speaker Virginia McKenna and some of the authors


Buy from Bridge House Publishing by clicking on the link BUY:

BUY





Virginia McKenna at Hay Launch

Virginia McKenna at Hay Launch

Animal Anthology To Raise Funds for Born Free

Bridge House Publishing announce new book coming Spring 2010. For more about Bridge House please see their website.
This book is the annual charity book for Born Free...if you want to get involved with promoting and selling this book- email me!

www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk


Visit the Born Free Website to find out more about their valuable work...

Visit the Born Free Website to find out more about their valuable work...
KEEP WILDLIFE IN THE WILD

Monday 1 February 2010

Bears and Ballerinas


Everything is inspired by something right? It can be a bit traumatic to be a writer and suddenly realise that there is actually no such thing as a completely original story but once you come to terms with that terrifying fact it is actually quite liberating. You no longer feel the unrealistic pull of having to write something new and you can be inspired by what has already been written.

Most writing is influenced by everything a writer has seen, heard or read.All of this combines to create a writer. My story Meena was inspired by just one tale, The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Anderson.

The Red Shoes is the tale of a peasant girl who grows up vain and tricks her adoptive mother into buying her a pair of red shoes. She repeatedly wears the shoes to church, without paying attention to the service.

When her adoptive mother becomes ill the girl deserts her, preferring to attend a party in her red shoes. Once she begins dancing, she can't stop. The shoes take over. She cannot control them and they are stuck to her feet.

The shoes continue to dance, through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day. An angel appears to her, condemning her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere.

The story actually continues far beyond this point but this is the section of it on which Meena is based.

In the movie version of The Red Shoes a ballerina dances to her death.

Meena is a bear cub who longs for more. She dreams of leaving her family to have adventures and her curiosity leads to her being captured. Her captors bring her up as a dancing bear. To find out if she dances to her death you will have to buy the book ;-)

Coming soon..... a few basic facts about bears. See you then!

2 comments:

  1. Wow- it's so interesting how stories form and a very clever adaptation of a famous story, so beautifully crafted to tell Meena's story. Of course I have read the story a few times and I can say it really creates that feeling of depair for the dancing bear.

    You're all gonna love it-prepare to be moved.

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