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osprey_archerA couple more Mary Stolz books! Originally this post was supposed to feature a third book as well, but my hold on King Emmett the Second has been in transit for two weeks and undoubtedly is spending Christmas vacation down in the Bahamas, so I decided to go ahead with just what I have.
Quentin Corn is the tale of a pig who realizes that he is being raised for the slaughter. Appalled, he climbs out of his pen, steals some clothes off the line, and cadges a ride to the nearest town. Thanks to his clothes and his brand-new name, Quentin Corn, most of the townsfolk take him for a runaway boy - except a couple of clever and observant children, who can see he’s really a pig.
(One of these children, Emily, reads Quentin “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which he very much dislikes.)
Unfortunately for Quentin, eventually he runs into a child who gets dollar signs in his eyes the moment he sees this walking talking pig: imagine the killing they could make in a circus! So Quentin runs away again. He hides in the woods, where he meets a very pretty wild boar! He shucks off his clothes and runs away into the woods with her to live a wild boar life. Happy end!
Zekmet the Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt is a delightfully irreverent tale about the design of the Sphinx, with beautifully detailed Egyptian-inspired illustrations by Deborah Nourse Lattimore. (I particularly loved the intricate hieroglyphic borders.) When his pyramid is almost finished, the Pharaoh Khafre decides he needs yet another monument to mark his greatness for all eternity, and tells his vizier Ho-tep to come up with something overnight. Ho-tep has no ideas (and feels very cross about having to indulge the old fool’s whim for another monument anyway), but of course he has to come up with something, and when he meets the stone-carver Zekmet, he sees a possible way out of his difficulties…
Later, Zekmet tells his wife about their exchange. ”So, since he has no ideas of his own and must come up with one quick-quick, my particular mark of favor is to think of an idea for him.”
“And what do we get out of it? Mery-ti asked. “Besides a mark of favor.
Zekmet smiled broadly. “At first, he thought that I’d be happy with the honor of serving Pharaoh.”
They laughed together.
Expecting artists to work for the exposure: a tale as old as time!
Perhaps someday King Emmett the Second will arrive? And I have a lead on Cezanne Pinto. But then I will be, not quite at a standstill, but certainly slowed down in my Mary Stolz quest.
It’s rather nice, though, to pursue an author with a huge back catalog; to know that there will be more for years to come.
Quentin Corn is the tale of a pig who realizes that he is being raised for the slaughter. Appalled, he climbs out of his pen, steals some clothes off the line, and cadges a ride to the nearest town. Thanks to his clothes and his brand-new name, Quentin Corn, most of the townsfolk take him for a runaway boy - except a couple of clever and observant children, who can see he’s really a pig.
(One of these children, Emily, reads Quentin “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which he very much dislikes.)
Unfortunately for Quentin, eventually he runs into a child who gets dollar signs in his eyes the moment he sees this walking talking pig: imagine the killing they could make in a circus! So Quentin runs away again. He hides in the woods, where he meets a very pretty wild boar! He shucks off his clothes and runs away into the woods with her to live a wild boar life. Happy end!
Zekmet the Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt is a delightfully irreverent tale about the design of the Sphinx, with beautifully detailed Egyptian-inspired illustrations by Deborah Nourse Lattimore. (I particularly loved the intricate hieroglyphic borders.) When his pyramid is almost finished, the Pharaoh Khafre decides he needs yet another monument to mark his greatness for all eternity, and tells his vizier Ho-tep to come up with something overnight. Ho-tep has no ideas (and feels very cross about having to indulge the old fool’s whim for another monument anyway), but of course he has to come up with something, and when he meets the stone-carver Zekmet, he sees a possible way out of his difficulties…
Later, Zekmet tells his wife about their exchange. ”So, since he has no ideas of his own and must come up with one quick-quick, my particular mark of favor is to think of an idea for him.”
“And what do we get out of it? Mery-ti asked. “Besides a mark of favor.
Zekmet smiled broadly. “At first, he thought that I’d be happy with the honor of serving Pharaoh.”
They laughed together.
Expecting artists to work for the exposure: a tale as old as time!
Perhaps someday King Emmett the Second will arrive? And I have a lead on Cezanne Pinto. But then I will be, not quite at a standstill, but certainly slowed down in my Mary Stolz quest.
It’s rather nice, though, to pursue an author with a huge back catalog; to know that there will be more for years to come.
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Date: 2023-12-22 12:02 am (UTC)