Green Hills of Magic


Book Description

In the early years of this century, miners from nearly every country in Europe and Asia Minor migrated to West Virginia to seek employment in its great collieries. With them they brought many folktales and legends of then homelands. Ruth Ann Musick has collected some of the best and most representative of these stories—never before published in book form—in The Green Hills of Magic. In many instances, these tales were first related in family circles in the native languages of the tellers, later to be translated by their younger English-speaking descendants. Entertaining in themselves, the stories are also excellent examples of the diverse folk beliefs and cultural patterns of the national and ethnic immigrant groups. The tales are attractively illustrated with more than twenty black-and-white drawings.




Magical Mrs. Mable Comes to Green Hills


Book Description

"Wow, Mrs. Mable, you're magical!" From the eyes of four year old Lynnie, the world of her nanny, Mrs. Mable, came alive the day she discovered that secret. This is a story based on the real life relationship of that little girl and her nanny, and so begins the exciting journey they would take together.




Green Hills of Magic


Book Description

In the early years of this century, miners from nearly every country in Europe and Asia Minor migrated to West Virginia to seek employment in its great collieries. With them they brought many folktales and legends of then homelands. Ruth Ann Musick has collected some of the best and most representative of these stories—never before published in book form—in The Green Hills of Magic. In many instances, these tales were first related in family circles in the native languages of the tellers, later to be translated by their younger English-speaking descendants. Entertaining in themselves, the stories are also excellent examples of the diverse folk beliefs and cultural patterns of the national and ethnic immigrant groups. The tales are attractively illustrated with more than twenty black-and-white drawings.




Guardian of the Green Hill


Book Description

Only a few weeks ago, Meg Morgan and her siblings went to England for the holidays—and found themselves in the middle of a fairy war. Now the war is over, but the battle for control of the fairies has just begun. A mysterious painter named Gwidion appears at the Rookery, ready to give the children art lessons. But his real plans are far more sinister: He means to destroy the Guardian of the Green Hill, the woman who keeps the peace between fairies and humans. Meg knows nothing of the evil artist's plans, but she is beginning to understand that she might be the only one who can become Guardian when her great-great aunt's time is over. Yet Meg is just a girl—surely she has plenty of time before she must decide whether she wants to take on such an enormous role. Then someone she loves is stolen by fairies, and no one but Meg can get him back. . . .




Beyond the Green Hills


Book Description

The sequel to On a Clear Day, which continues the enchanting story of Clare Richardson; Clare, now aged 20 and blossoming into a beautiful young woman, is looking forward to her final year at university, and to the return of her childhood sweetheart Andrew to Ulster. After a happy summer together they become engaged, and the future looks bright. But when Clare and Andrew's romance ends in disappointment and shattered dreams, she determines to make a new life on her own. Following in the footsteps of so many of her fellow countrymen, she takes the Liverpool boat and from there goes to Paris. Life 'beyond the green hills' is exciting and stimulating, but it brings with it the realization that she will only ever be at home in her beloved Ireland.




Ireland


Book Description




The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales


Book Description

" West Virginia boasts an unusually rich heritage of ghost tales. Originally West Virginians told these hundred stories not for idle amusement but to report supernatural experiences that defied ordinary human explanation. From jealous rivals and ghostly children to murdered kinsmen and omens of death, these tales reflect the inner lives—the hopes, beliefs, and fears—of a people. Like all folklore, these tales reveal much of the history of the region: its isolation and violence, the passions and bloodshed of the Civil War era, the hardships of miners and railroad laborers, and the lingering vitality of Old World traditions.




The Dark Hills Divide (The Land of Elyon #1)


Book Description

An extraordinary debut weaving magic and heroism into a classic tale of good and evil, featuring a heroine you'll never forget.Inquisitive twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in the walled town of Bridewell. This year, she is set on solving the mystery of what lies beyond the walls. Legend says the walls were built to keep out an unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills. But what exactly is it that the townspeople are so afraid of? As Alexa begins to unravel the truth, pushing beyond the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment -- and exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear.




The Moon-Eyed People


Book Description

A lone man wanders from swamp to swamp searching for himself, a wolf-girl visits Wales and eats the sheep, a Welsh criminal marries an 'Indian Princess', Lakota men re-enact the Wounded Knee Massacre in Cardiff and, all the while, mountain women practise Appalachian hoodoo, native healing and Welsh witchcraft. These stories are a mixture of true tales, tall tales and folk tales, that tell of the lives of migrants who left Wales and settled in America, of the native and enslaved people who had long been living there, and those curious travellers who returned to find their roots in the old country. They were explorers, miners, dreamers, hobos, tourists, farmers, radicals, showmen, sailors, soldiers, witches, warriors, poets, preachers, prospectors, political dissidents, social reformers, and wayfaring strangers. The Cherokee called them: ' the Moon-Eyed People'.




Print in the Snow


Book Description

It's fourteen-year-old Anna's first winter in New York City. She has just moved to New York with her mother and stepfather, and hates everything about her new life. After another argument with her mother, she defiantly sneaks out to ski in Riverside Park. Much to her surprise she meets another cross-country skier, an attractive boy about her own age, who has something of an unreal quality about him. Against her better judgment, she follows him into what turns out to be a snow-covered magical netherworld inhabited by monstrous creatures known as Wyssun' as well as by the Skiers who hunt them. Before she knows it, she is accepted by the peculiar Skiers as one of their own, and becomes trapped in the Wyssun' World. Run by elves, and not the Keebler kind, it's a confusing and dangerous place. Anna must get back home before the fairy tale turns into a nightmare. She explores the many paths that connect with yet other worlds, making new friends and unexpected foes, while discovering the magic of intention, and learning to understand her own feelings. If negotiating glaciers and battling tunnel-dwelling monsters aren't enough, she is determined to win the affection of the boy she likes, while fending off the advances of a mysterious sorcerer for whom she feels a marked antipathy. Before the Wyssun' Word destroys her of she destroys the world, Anna must discover how desire itself creates reality, and that the way home is shorter than one might think. The young heroine's adventure marks a Jungian journey into the subconscious otherworld. The nine chapters of the book reflect the color spectrum which is born in black and ends with white, and are illustrated with opulent watercolor illustrations.