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Once Upon a Time, Though it wasn't in Your Time, and it wasn't in My Time, and it wasn't in Anybody Else's Time
Three folktales--"The Fox, the Hare, and the Cock," "The Girl and the Geese," and "Battibeth"--complemented by remarkable, surrealistic art, are retold by an expert in fairytales and folklore in a new edition designed to be read aloud.
- GenresFairy TalesPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 1993
39 people want to read
About the author
Alan Garner
94 books730 followersAlan Garner OBE (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist who is best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. His work is firmly rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native county of Cheshire, North West England, being set in the region and making use of the native Cheshire dialect.
Born into a working-class family in Congleton, Cheshire, Garner grew up around the nearby town of Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as 'The Edge', where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the nearby village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore in its plot and characters. Garner completed a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), but left the third book of the trilogy he had envisioned. Instead he produced a string of further fantasy novels, Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973).
Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work. In 2012, he finally published a third book in the Weirdstone trilogy.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garner
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Born into a working-class family in Congleton, Cheshire, Garner grew up around the nearby town of Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as 'The Edge', where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the nearby village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore in its plot and characters. Garner completed a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), but left the third book of the trilogy he had envisioned. Instead he produced a string of further fantasy novels, Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973).
Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work. In 2012, he finally published a third book in the Weirdstone trilogy.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garner
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2009
The complete title of this book is: ONCE UPON A TIME, THOUGH IT WASN'T IN YOUR TIME, AND IT WASN'T IN MY TIME, AND IT WASN'T IN ANYBODY ELSE'S TIME...
So based on that title, I kinda expected a comical take on a few fairy tales. But I was so so wrong.
Actually, there are just three obscure folk tales here, and for good reason: they're weird. But then, most fairy tales out of Grimms and Anderson are really weird too, but they get cleaned up so much we don't even know it.
What I didn't see until I was done, was the dust jacket info that explained things a bit better. First, the author is a storyteller, "particularly adept at hearing the poetry of folktales. By reproducing the spoken rhythms of the oral tradition, he creates wonderful stories for reading aloud." Ahhhh. Makes more sense now. I'm thinking Timpanogos Storytelling Festival type of stuff.
Also helpful was the line on the back cover describing the stories as having "the logic of dreams." HA! They couldn't be more accurate, cause that's totally how they feel.
If I had started with those bits of knowledge it would have been a little less odd.
So based on that title, I kinda expected a comical take on a few fairy tales. But I was so so wrong.
Actually, there are just three obscure folk tales here, and for good reason: they're weird. But then, most fairy tales out of Grimms and Anderson are really weird too, but they get cleaned up so much we don't even know it.
What I didn't see until I was done, was the dust jacket info that explained things a bit better. First, the author is a storyteller, "particularly adept at hearing the poetry of folktales. By reproducing the spoken rhythms of the oral tradition, he creates wonderful stories for reading aloud." Ahhhh. Makes more sense now. I'm thinking Timpanogos Storytelling Festival type of stuff.
Also helpful was the line on the back cover describing the stories as having "the logic of dreams." HA! They couldn't be more accurate, cause that's totally how they feel.
If I had started with those bits of knowledge it would have been a little less odd.
April 21, 2010
Short. Simple. Didn't make a lick of sense.
March 8, 2015
beautifully illustrated book with three folktales that are meant to be read aloud
July 13, 2016
Three stories suitable for a very young audience. Despite the age of their target audience, I felt these were not the best of fairy tales.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews