TOUCH MAGIC Jane Yolen SIGNED hbdj fairy tales fantasy

Inscribed and signed on half-title page: For Donald Hargrove touch magic ~ pass it on Jane Yolen 1989 With signed letter to Donald, dated November 26, 1989. Letter has a few dots/smudges of ink from printer, and is folded/creased.

FROM THE DUST JACKET:

Touch magic and pass it on is the message of this lively and literate collection of essays on the importance of fairytale and fantasy. According to Jane Yolen, the old traditional tales have enduring popularity because they speak to real needs within us, serving not only to preserve and hand down our cultural heritage, but to conserve and nourish our very humanity. Thus it is not merely a pleasant indulgence, but a serious obligation to pass on to our children the great myths and folklore of the past both in their original forms and as elements of modern literature.

Dr. Yolen defines and gives a brief history of folk literature and fairytales, and goes on to discuss their functions in the social, emotional and intellectual growth of children, citing also their value as aids in psychotherapy. She then points out the vital roles played by fantasy in the stimulation of the imagination and the acquisition of language, the essential tools of thought. These insightful essays make fascinating reading for writers, folklorists, educators, parents and all who are interested in our literary heritage and concerned with the intellectual development of children.

JANE YOLEN is one of today's most versatile and distinguished writers of books for young readers, equally acclaimed for her poetry, her humorous novels, picture book texts, comic verse, serious biographies and novels for young adults, and her collections of original fantasies and fairytales. She received her BA and PhD degrees from Smith College, and she has taught courses in children's literature there as well.

Dr. Yolen has also been an editor of children's books for a New York publishing firm, and is a well-known critic and a popular lecturer. Some of the essays in this volume have been based in part on lectures she has given on the importance of myth, folklore, faerie and fantasy in the literature of children. Myth is at the center of many of her own writings, particularly of her short fantasies, some of which have been described by critics as "modern classics." Jane Yolen, who is married and the mother of three children, lives in western Massachusetts.

Please see my other listings for more books by Jane Yolen.

Also includes a Harcourt Brace Jovanovich brochure with a Profile of Jane Yolen, written by Yolen (I particularly like, when talking about why she likes writing, "... Because I will never be the first woman president or the first woman on the moon. But I am the first sentient creature in the entire universe to read a new Jane Yolen book. If that's not special -- I don't know what is.")

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