Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts

Dead is the New Black

Title: Dead is the New Black
Author: Marlene Perez
ISBN: 9780152064082

Other Books in Series: Dead is a State of Mind, Dead is So Last Year, Dead is Just a Rumor, Dead is Not an Option.

Plot Summary: Daisy Giordano, a teenager growing up in the quirky California town of Nightshade, is the only "normal" member of a family with psychic and telekinetic powers. When Samantha Devereaux, a classmate of hers, starts looking distinctly vampirish, Daisy comes to realize that there is far more supernatural activity going on in her little town than she previously realized. Even worse, though, is when young women start turning up dead and severely wounded, the victims of a frightening new breed of vampire. Daisy must solve this mystery, along with her friends and would-be boyfriend, while simultaneously dealing with romance, sibling rivalry, her own suddenly extant powers, school cliques, and the unspeakable horror that is being on the cheerleading squad.


Wicked

Title: Wicked: 2003 Original Broadway Cast Recording
Authors: Stephen Schwartz (composer), Winnie Holzman (libretto), Gregory Maguire (original)
Cast: Idina Menzel (Elphaba), Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda), Joel Grey (The Wizard)
ASIN: B0000TB01Y

Plot Summary: Elphaba is an intelligent, magically talented, yet lonely and reserved young woman with an odd appearance and an unhappy home life. Galinda is beautiful, spoiled and popular, yet an equally gifted witch. When they are initially thrown together as roommates at Shiz University in the Land of Oz, they do not get along, but gradually become friends. However, things are starting to change in Oz: animals can no longer speak or hold teaching positions, and Elphaba starts to question the way things are run in the land. A handsome young ne'er-do-well, Fiyero, attracts the romantic interest of both women, leading to an eventual rivalry as they vie for his affections. However, the final straw comes when Elphaba, having visited the Emerald City with Glinda, discovers that the widely beloved Wizard is a magical fraud. She and Glinda have a falling-out over Elphaba's refusal to obey him, and the two part ways. Although their paths will intersect again in the future, they will not do so without personal tragedy and heartache for both.


Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

Title: Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
ISBN: 0689300077

Plot Summary: Elizabeth lives alone with her mother in an apartment building, in a neighborhood full of fancy houses. She is ill-at-ease at home and at school, but soon meets a girl who changes her life: Jennifer, a self-described witch who dresses, speaks and acts differently from any other person Elizabeth has met. The two become friends, performing "spells" together and bonding in their respective loneliness. A falling-out over a pet toad drives them apart briefly, but when they manage to make amends, they find their friendship, although different, has changed for the better.


The Sandman: A Game of You

Title: The Sandman: A Game of You
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrators: Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch, Dick Giordano
Lettering: Todd Klein
ISBN: 1563890895

Other Books in Series: Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, Dream Country, Season of Mists, Fables and Reflections, Brief Lives, World's End, The Kindly Ones, The Wake.

Plot Summary: Barbie is a young woman with an active fantasy life, living in the city with a quirky group of friends including a lesbian couple, a male-to-female pre-operative transgender, a witch, and a quiet, somewhat mysterious man who turns out to be working for the book's main antagonist. When Barbie is visited by Martin Tenbones, a large dog from the realm of Dreams, he tells her that the fantasy land of her dreams is being threatened by a malignant being known as the Cuckoo. Alarmed, Barbie travels mentally to dreamland, leaving her comatose body behind in the waking world. After finding out that George, the quiet man, is in league with the enemy, Thessaly, the witch, kills him and draws down the moon to help her and the other women in their quest to find Barbie. However, the moon will not let Wanda, the transgender, accompany the three other women, as she feels he does not count as a "real" woman. While left behind with George's head, Wanda is ultimately killed by Thessaly's magic raging out of control. Barbie eventually defeats the Cuckoo, but not without paying a price, both in terms of the land of her dreams and the loss of a dear friend.