Louise HawesReseñas

Big Rig, a solid middle school novel, presents a father and daughter who team up to live life on the road.

Hazel rides in the big rig with her trucker dad and her mom's ashes experiencing the world. Hazel and her dad have certain rituals that makes their tiny home (cab of the truck) a place of love and respect. The rules actually make them stop, listen, and think before making decisions. It's a pretty good skill for kids AND parents. Because they are on the road a lot, they have favorite places to stop and enjoy life. Friends live in different parts of the United States as well. It's not just driving through the country. Hazel's dad homeschools her, so she's always learning something. By being on the road, they can also stop at locations to further her education. She's an amazing map reader because her father believes that maps are better than GPS devices. They only use the Internet and GPS as needed. Eventually, Hazel hopes to get her CDL (commercial driver's license) and drive her own truck.

Not surprisingly, many things can happen when out on the open road. Throughout the novel, you meet their friends and experience the unexpected: plane crash, runaway teen, and flood. Each experience requires a different level of "growing up" and showing courage. You can't run when help is needed and you are the one who can supply that help--no matter how hard it is to help or how painful to move on. After all, with trucking, you always move on; there's a schedule to keep. Although Hazel loves the road, there is one house she truly finds as a home. The one she was raised in until her dad could care for her after her mom died. Maze owns the trucking business and Serena is his wife. Hazel tells Serena everything and Serena listens. Hazel can also answer questions that may not want to ask her dad.

The novel warms your heart as you grow up with Hazel--just a little bit--and experience the ups and downs of driving across America.½

Author Louise Hawes and illustrator Rebecca Guay together retell an ancient Egyptian fairy-tale in this lovely picture-book. Given a beautiful necklace made of turquoise and carnelian by her father, Muti grows up surrounded by his love, and by the love of her mother and brother. Eventually she becomes a servant in the palace of King Snefru, the Pharaoh of all Egypt. When the Pharaoh's whim sees her pressed into service as the leader of his oar-girls, she does her job well, until the necklace is lost in the Royal Lake. Refusing to take up her oar again, Muti defies the captain, the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh's magician, until finally an awesome act of magic is performed, to allow her to retrieve her beloved necklace...

Originally contained in the Westcar Papyrus - an ancient Egyptian text containing five stories, and dated to between the 18th and 16th centuries BC - this story is indeed one of the oldest recorded fairy-tales in the world. An English translation of it in its original form can be found in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Hawes has taken some liberties with the story in her retelling, focusing on the rowing girl, rather than the king, and giving her heroine a name and a family. It's interesting to note that scholars believe the original was an oblique satire and critique of King Snefru, who is covertly mocked for not being able to control a mere oar-girl without the help of a magician. Hawes has chosen to tell her story from the girl's perspective, making her heroic rather than willful, and centering the narrative on the idea of the power and pull of home and family. As hers is a children's retelling, I think this choice makes sense, and it certainly makes for an engaging narrative. It's also interesting to note that the episode in which the court magician causes the waters of the lake to recede, allowing Muti to walk out onto the lake floor and retrieve her necklace, is reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea, in the biblical book of Exodus. Perhaps this story was an influence on the much-later biblical one, just as the Babylonian Enuma Elish was?

Leaving aside textual issues, Muti's Necklace: The Oldest Story in the World is a gorgeous book, from a visual perspective. The accompanying illustrations from Rebecca Guay are simply breathtaking, capturing the beauty and mystery of Muti's world. Although I am familiar with Guay's work from the cover-art she provided to a number of children's novels - Dia Calhoun's The Phoenix Dance, Jackie French Koller's A Wizard Named Nell, etc. - this is the first of her picture-books I have picked up. I certainly intend to track down more, given how much I enjoyed her work here! Recommended to fairy-tale lovers, and to young children fascinated by Ancient Egypt.

I thought the writing was cheesy and cliche. The story and characterization were really shallow.

Remember the fairy tales you put away after experience taught you that no princess is as beautiful as common sense and happy endings are just the beginning?

Black Pearls had two things I love most about fairy-tale retellings: it was dark and its stories were from the POV of a character often overlooked in traditional versions. Hawes' brilliantly shifted the perspective of classic fairy tales so that we're forced to see the story from a whole new angle. Loved it!!

"Dame Nigran's Tower" - 5 stars - I absolutely loved reading the tale of Rapunzel from the "evil witch" POV. I'm sure many parents would read this version and think, "But Tabby was only trying to protect Rampion." I had to wonder, was the narrator (Tabby) entirely honest/reliable? Did Rampion exaggerate the situation to land a prince?

"Pipe Dreams" - 3 stars - A retelling of the Pied Piper which was okay for me. However, I've never really been a fan of the original or its many variations.

"Mother Love" - 4 stars - A dark yet touching retelling of Hansel and Gretel. I could really envision this being the "true" story of such a family. Did Gretel eat her brother to stay alive? Or did they really encounter the witch in a gingerbread house? Whatever the answer, Gretel survived, and she did so because of her guardian angel, whether real or imagined.

"Ashes" - 5 stars - Okay, when it comes to Cinderella, I'm not the biggest fan. There have been a few retellings over the years that draw me closer to liking the fairy tale, but I'm never really sold on it. Hawes' version was the first time I was all-in. Beginning at the night of the ball and told from the POV of Prince Charming who, yes, is reeled in by Cinderella's beauty, but falls in love with her laugh, joy and honesty. In other words, it's who she is not what she looks like. Well, he's not the first person to get suckered by a clever mask and a long con.

"Evelyn's Song" - 5 stars - Jack, the Giant Killer, from the perspective of the magical harp, which is actually an enchanted girl, who, after having failed to obey her aunt, was cursed to do as commanded. The downside being she was transformed into the instrument required to carry out her final order, "Play!"

"Diamonda" - 4 stars - A retelling of Snow White in which one of the dwarfs, Erin, battles his unrequited love for Diamonda. Once she's found her happily ever after, he has to decide if he can live without her.

"Naked" - 3 stars - Combines the nursery rhyme, "Banbury Cross," with the legend of Lady Godiva. However, instead of it being tax relief for the peasants, she's riding naked to atone for her husband's infidelity. I liked this story the least of all the tales in this collection.

Lastly, I don't want to leave out the beautiful illustrations by Rebecca Guay. There was only one per tale but they captured the essence of each perfectly.

5 stars

A senior in high school when his beloved girlfriend dies in a tragic car crash, Franklin cannot move on. Crushed by grief, he rarely attends school, rejects his friends, and even though they try, he shuns the assistance of parents.

Counseling is useless. Then, miraculously Rosey appears to Franklin from the other side. While he can see her shadowy shape full of light, when they touch, there is no physical sense.

Rosey returned because she heard Franklin crying and was drawn back to him. Now, she is stuck between this world and the next. While she increasingly becomes frustrated, even though she loves Frankln, he is ecstatic because he has his Rosey back.

This is a tale of young love, of life cut short, and the inability to let go.

Well written with strong character development, I liked this book.

Another beautiful "cinderella" story with gorgeous illustations to draw kids in. The main character is a strong woman, and I would use this to teach about main characters and story progression.

Reviewed by The Compulsive Reader for TeensReadToo.com

In this mesmerizing book, seven classic fairy tales have been retold; presented in a mature, yet still very magical, way.

Learn the truth behind Rapunzel's imprisonment, and what really happened to Hansel and Gretal in the candied house in the woods. You'll discover what happened to the children the Pied Piper stole away, and how Cinderella and her prince lived after "Happily Ever After." Find out why the harp wanted to stay with her monstrous giant of a master rather than go with Jack, and how the Seven Dwarves fared after Snow White left to be with her prince. And, most intriguing of all, you'll learn the true reason behind Lady Godiva's legendary ride.

So immerse yourself in this wonderfully written collection of some of the best known tales of all time and their wonderfully human characters, who are passionate, fallible, and not all as they seem. They are different, a bit more true to life, and better suited for the more mature and thoughtful reader, but won't fail to evoke the same feelings they did when you heard first heard them as a child.

Stirring, sad, triumphant, and poignant, you'll devour each and every artfully portrayed tale.

Wow, talk about dark and dizzying! Warning: This book is not bed-side reading. Through clearly drawn characters with complexity and depth, Hawes lures the reader into the "Bizarro World" versions of classic fairytales. You just have to pick up this page turner to find out if Rapunzel really was the poor prisoner of a wicked witch or if perhaps Rapunzel is wicked. Hawes' version of Cinderella is equally shocking and gritty. Was Cinderella the perfect "Stepford" wife or did she marry the prince with grisley revenge in mind.½

Although the storyline is interesting, the story in this book is not. It drags on and on and you end up wishing that Franklin would just take some meds and make Rosey go away. Franklin's love for Rosey seems genuine but their relationship and conversations are too sappy to make the relationship believable.

I really enjoyed reading these redone fairy tales, some extending from the ending of them and others simply changing them. It's nice to see a different perspective on the tales we have heard so many times.

Mesmerizing dark retellings of many standard fairy tales. For example, in this Cinderella, the prince finds out that his fairy princess is really a self-absorbed brat and they most definitely do not live happily ever after. I loved this book!

A retelling of seven fairy tales, told from different perspectives. For example, Snow White is retold from the perspective of one of the dwarfs. A little darker spin is put on many of the tales.

When Rosey returns to Franklin he is thrilled. There is only one problem. Rosey is not alive. Franklin has not been able to get over her death, and now Rosey is back. Can she help him move on and let go?½