Once, an Ojibwa man whose wife had died raised three daughters alone. The two older girls were lazy and bad-tempered, and made their youngest sister do all the work. When the flames from the cooking fire singed her hair or burned her skin, they laughed and called her Sootface.



While she worked, Sootface dreamed that one day she would find a husband. Then a mighty warrior with the power to make himself invisible decides to marry. Only a woman with a kind and honest heart could see him, and be his bride.



Though her sisters ridicule her, Sootface sets off to try her luck, never looking back. Her courage and good nature bring her the husband she has longed for.

A friendship is tested by love and magic in this beautiful retelling of a traditional tale from the French West Indies.
On the lush tropical island of Martinique live Clement and Hippolyte, two inseparable friends. When Clement falls in love with the beautiful Pauline, Hippolyte agrees to join his best friend on his journey to propose marriage. But when Pauline accepts Clement's proposal, it enrages her uncle Monsieur Zabocat--reputed to be a "quimboiseur, " a wizard. To prevent the wedding, the old wizard lures Hippolyte into a deadly trap, forcing him to choose between his friend's safety and his own.

This engaging retelling of the Southern Sierra Miwok legend features the great Yosemite Valley monolith, El Capitan, and how it came to be. Mother Grizzly Bear thinks that her two playful cubs are wrestling and having fun along the Merced River while she is checking her fish traps. When she returns to join her sons, however, she discovers the cubs are nowhere to be found. It takes an unlikely hero to bring her cubs safely home. Populated with characters based on real Sierra animals, this story is about the value of all beings, the nature of courage, and the idea that being a hero has very little to do with one's size. Includes notes about the life and culture of the Southern Sierra Miwok and a bibliography.

Meet Cinderella Skeleton, as sweetly foul as only a ghoul can be. Poor Cinderella has no one to help her hang the cobwebs and arrange dead flowers--certainly not her evil stepsisters. But the Halloween Ball is just around the corner. . . . Will Cinderella find happiness at last?

Blessed Mary rewards Teresa's good deeds with a shining gold star. Later she punishes Teresa's unkind stepsisters, Isabel and Inez, with hideous horns and donkey's ears that they try to hide under heavy veils! But will Teresa outshine her stepsisters at the festival? Robert D. San Souci retells this popular folktale in a lilting narrative that includes all the magic of the beloved Cinderella story and traditional elements from Spanish tales. Luminous watercolors by Sergio Martinez accentuate the beauty and goodness that radiate from Little Gold Star.

A Selection of the Junior Library Guild

A Selection of Nest Literary Classics

You may think you already know this story about a beautiful servant girl, a cruel stepmother, a magnificent ball, and a lost slipper. But you've never heard it for true.

Now you can hear the tale from someone who was there: a poor washerwoman from the island of Martinique. She has just one thing in the world to love, her goddaughter Cendrillon. When she finds Cendrillon heartsick over a rich man's son, at first she doesn't know what to do. But she has sharp wits, a strong will, and the magic wand her mother left her -- and soon she has a plan to give her dear Cendrillon the gift of a love that will change her life.

A Caldecott Honor author/illustrator team brings us a unique Cinderalla story, with a remarkable fairy godmother to tell the tale. Adapted from a traditional Creole story, this fresh retelling captures all the age-old romance and magic of Cinderalla, melding it with the vivid beauty of the Caribbean and the musical language of the islands.

Thirty hair-raising tales, selected from international ghostlore, have been skillfully retold especially for young people. Eerie black-and-white illustrations, ghastly details, and strong, shuddery endings make these the kind of stories young readers crave. Famous stories like “The Robber Bridegroom” by the Brothers Grimm, “Tailypo,” and “The Golem” are included, as well as retellings of stories by some of the world’s greatest authors, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving.

Scare-master San Souci serves up 10 chilling tales about untraditional haunted houses: a mansion full of pirate treasure, a ghost trapped in a mysterious dollhouse, a boy whose vacation house comes complete with people-eating spiders, and many more.