In The Golden Bird a king who has been robbed of a golden apple commands his gardener's sons to watch the tree. Seeing that the thief is a golden bird, the youngest son tries to shoot it, but only knocks a feather off. Fascinated by the feather, the king decides he wants the whole bird. The gardener's son and his two brothers must make fateful choices in what turns into a fearsome quest to capture the bird. It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 550,...

In the Brothers Grimm version of "Tom Thumb", a lonely couple hopes for a child, even "if it were no bigger than my thumb". To their delight, their wishes come true and the boy is named "Tom Thumb" for his diminutive stature. The boy is crafty and helps his father by directing the family horse to haul firewood by standing in his ear and whispering commands. Embarking on several adventures, Tom displays a knack for tricking the slow-witted people who...

In The Goose Girl a princess' maid turns on her mistress while traveling and forces her to switch roles with her. The False princess then kills the princess' horse to keep it from talking and forces the real princess to herd geese with the boy Conrad. Conrad begins to notice strange things about the new goose-girl and informs the king. The king coaxes the truth out of the real princess and the false princess is duly punished.

In The Seven Ravens a peasant sends his seven sons to fetch water for his daughter's christening. Having lost their pails in the well, they are afraid to return home without having completed their task. The peasant, thinking they have gone off to play, curses them whereupon they are immediately transformed into ravens. When the daughter is grown up she sets off to discover the whereabouts of her long lost brothers. This folk tale exists in multiple...

In Briar Rose", better known as "Sleeping Beauty" seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to the infant princess. An old, overlooked fairy feels slighted and puts a deadly curse on the princess. A kind fairy modulates the curse from death to 100 years of deep sleep which can be terminated by the kiss of a handsome prince. This combination of princess, sleep enchantment and prince exists in multiple folk tales going back as early as the narrative...

The adventures of a kind-hearted doctor, who is fond of animals and understands their language, as he travels to Africa with some of his favorite pets to cure the monkeys of a terrible sickness.

Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson-a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake-and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible vision of death that will haunt him forever. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good...

The exciting and definitive narrative of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Releasing this fall, the movie-starring Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, Jacki Weaver, and Billy Bob Thornton-follows a group of individuals making split-second decisions after this incomprehensible event: the doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital, the chief of the Dallas Secret Service, the cameraman who captured what has become the most examined...

"Fred Rogers was one of the most radical pacifists of contemporary history. We do not usually think of him as radical, partly because he wore colorful, soft sweaters made by his mother. Nor do we usually imagine him as a pacifist; that adjective seems way too political to describe the host of a children's program known for its focus on feelings. We have restricted Fred Rogers to the realm of entertainment, children, and feelings, and we've ripped...

A haunting, poignant story of growing up in a mixed-race family in 1970s New Jersey, in the tradition of The Color of Water. Magnanimous and charming, Bob Guterl knew that he could solve the racial problems bedeviling postwar America. Determined to stave off impending global catastrophe, the larger-than-life judge and his resolute wife, Sheryl, launched a radical experiment, raising their two biological sons alongside four children adopted from...