fantasy Quotes

“Real life is often something like books.”

“You know what killed off the dinosaurs, Whateley? We did. In one barbecue.”

“What had only been imagination in life, now became tangible, each fantasy a full reality. I lived them all—while, at the same time, standing to the side, a witness to their, often, intimate squalor. A witness cursed with total objectivity.”

“Commercials ... provide a slogan ... that creates for viewers a comprehensive and compelling image of themselves.”

“My father and I were close once. In Jamaica, and even after we moved here, we were inseparable. Most times it felt like me and my dad—the Dreamers—against my mom and my brother—the Non-Dreamers...I listened to his stories about how our life would be after he became famous. I listened long after my mom and brother had stopped listening.”

“But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice.”

“and the song of Luthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where he feet had passed. Then the spell of silence fell from Beren, and he called to her, crying Tinuviel; and the woods echoed the name.”

“Now fair and marvellous was that vessel made, and it was filled with a wavering flame, pure and bright; and Earendil the Mariner sat at the helm, glistening with dust of elven-gems, and the Silmaril was bound upon his brow. ”

“but none of these signs of malnourishment or illness or grief … detracted from Lux’s overwhelming impression of being a carnal angel.”

“What we did see—for the mists were indeed all too malignly thinned—was something altogether different, and immeasurably more hideous and detestable. It was the utter, objective embodiment of the fantastic novelist’s “thing that should not be”;”

“I will start out this evening with an assertion: fantasy is a place where it rains.”

“It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train—a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and unforming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel.”

“You are this earth. You are not a fantasy: you are my love. And love is friendship lit by a wooden match with a white tip on its red tip. I am your match, and you are mine.”

In this story, the dish and the spoon run away to be performers, but end up having a hard life that involves 25 years in prison!

“Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.”

“This is the dystopian story of Toby Lolness,where his life is turned upside down,with the whole tree against him and his family for crimes they did not commit and a secret that could change the very tree forever.”

When J.J.’s mother reveals that she wants more time for her birthday, J.J. decides to go and find some. A task, at first, that seems like an impossible undertaking for a fifteen-year-old. That is until a neighbor shows J.J. an unlikely place to look for everyone’s lost time.

“The creatures didn’t move as she approached. They had never tried to hurt her, but she had a feeling that they were hiding their true nature.”

When J.J.’s mother idly wishes for more time for her birthday, J.J. decides to find her some. But how can he find her time when he barely has enough time of his own to do the basics, like schoolwork—let alone to find out if the local rumors about his grandfather being a murderer are true?

This book’s “net” to catch you in is that one meter in our world is about one millimeter in their world, and they live on a tree. This concept is just very original and is so intriguing.

A fascinating fantasy world about tree people with nice allegories to earth. When you first meet Toby, he is on the run--from his former friends, life, everything. He doesn’t even know where his parents are.

It’s an interesting narrative with a mystical, child-like wonder that reminds you of a fairy tale. Many plot points are understated, so this book needs a lot of reading between the lines. An enjoyable read, definitely.

While waiting for help, Arthur notices two strange-looking men materializing out of thin air. They discuss a key and whether or not to give it to Arthur.

The book is so intuitive and allows so much expression and voice intonation. The characters are distinct individuals and I could instantly find their voice. The art is simply amazing

A girl walks to school each day and sees a cat. The cat talks to her. The cat is quite the philosopher. She tells the girl what she knows about the world. The cat makes the girl late for school and that causes the girl problems.

“Oh, yes, willful was what I wanted to be. Utterly willful. A willful girl was like a hen that crowed: something special.”

It’s the art and the illustration that will actually creep you out. Like a damn nightmare you cannot come out of. They are gory. Not the black and white or blood red gory but gory.

Dave McKean’s illustrations are both haunting and hilarious at the same time. The wolves are portrayed as drawings made by a child, as it is implied on the front cover of the book. The wolves are also drawn in both a frightening and humorous way throughout the book.

The story falls flat on the scare factor as the wolves are only perceived as the usual unwelcome guests in the family’s home and the story is slow-paced as it took time for the family to decide to rush back to their home.

It’s just a run of the mill mid-grade fantasy quest Arthurian/Christian symbolism story. And to make matters worse, for me anyway, is that it is just so whimsical and overly descriptive.

Lucy knew that trouble was about to begin and tries to warn her family of the danger of staying in the house, even though her family do not believe her at first.

I’ve learned that this tale is conceived with help from the kids of the Gaiman and McKean. Maddy Gaiman has a nightmare of wolves scratching the walls of their house. Gaiman helped Maddy cope with this fear by storytelling, making strategies to escape from the wolves or something like that—and these plotting became a part of the story.

Equating willfulness with being special, the child then confronts other themes of life such as eternity and loneliness. The cat declares that he is immortal. The girl concludes that they are both willful. As the girl identifies with the cat they discuss some of life’s themes. Loneliness is seen in the mailman and dog. The girl attempts to show empathy, but the cat will have none of that. He does not show compassion and is irritated that the girl will not follow his lead in being pitiless.

Ed travels to the addresses and helps out the tangled lives of their occupants. Further playing cards appear in his life, and Ed continues to unravel their mysteries.

Honor Brown hates, absolutely hates school. It’s horrible--there are monsters and petrifying teachers. The students are crooks and pirates and everyone is so mean! They throw them out of windows and make them walk on glass. It’s so, so horrible, but what happens when it’s over?

It is interesting as it includes much exaggeration as to why the main character, Honor Brown, seems to hate school but then ends with her in an emotional state when she finally realises that she will really miss it once she has left.

Where have they gone and will they be coming home again? When Griffin starts school and meets Princess Layla the answers to his questions gently start to unfold.

This is a great story about parents not listening to their daughter and said daughter saving their home. It also has wolves...in the walls! It is just the kind of story that should be read aloud, too, full of the rhythms and repeated refrains that fit with oral story telling.

Many universal themes are addressed in this little book. Willfulness is mentioned first because I think it ties with the ending theme of original sin (which is a story about willfulness.) The child attempts to determine if she is a willful child, the cat confirms that she is. The child then concludes “willful is what I want to be… something special.”

Arthur Penhaligon’s first days at his new school don’t go too well, particularly when a fiendish Mister Monday appears, gives Arthur a magical clock hand, and then orders his gang of dog-faced goons to chase Arthur around and get it back.

This is a really fun, playful poetry book and I can see why children would like it. Honor Brown tells of school in a very imaginative, negative way which is actually really funny.

Persuaded, Monday agrees to relinquish control of the key, which is shaped like the minute hand of an old clock, although he quickly becomes suspicious of Sneezer, who apparently never showed much intelligence before. Sneezer and Mister Monday then fight and disappear in a flash of light.

With a weapon-wielding hero and a villain who doesn’t make Mondays any nicer, Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom launch is imaginative and gripping. After an action-packed crescendo to the book’s middle -- when Arthur finally learns his destiny -- Nix keeps the drama going and doesn’t let it fall.

The characters are likable and there are a few minor twists and turns that keep things interesting. This isn’t a very long book so naturally it didn’t take too long to read, that being said however, I did find it difficult to put down. I think that kids of all ages would be able to follow the story and enjoy solving the mystery along with the children in the story.

The story centers on a mother and her three children, a set of twins and their older sister, who have just moved into the old dilapidated house that has been in the family for years. Very soon after moving in, strange occurrences begin to happen and the children dedicate themselves to solving the mystery.

The entire book works. The color wash suits the drawing style which complements the story which is carried by mild misbehavior and mayhem.

A great example of an image where the wolves display both terror and humor is in the image of the wolves being shown in creepy shadows as they are watching television and are laughing their heads off.

After meeting Suzy Blue and the first part of “the Will” (a frog-looking entity that knows everything about the House), Arthur learns that he’s been selected as Rightful Heir to the House and must get the other part of the clock hand in order to defeat Monday.

The characters are likable and there are a few minor twists and turns that keep things interesting. This isn’t a very long book so naturally it didn’t take too long to read, that being said however, I did find it difficult to put down. I think that kids of all ages would be able to follow the story and enjoy solving the mystery along with the children in the story.

On Earth, a boy named Arthur Penhaligon (the main character) is at a new school. He collapses during an outdoor cross country run during gym because of his severe asthma. Two of his schoolmates, Ed and Leaf, stop to help him use his inhaler before running to get help.

Just your typical ‘move into an old creepy house, weird stuff starts happening, one of the kids gets blamed, and then they find a book that explains the existence of fairies/faeries/fey which solves their problems... while at the same time causing many more problems’. Happens every day.

The characters are likable and there are a few minor twists and turns that keep things interesting. This isn’t a very long book so naturally it didn’t take too long to read, that being said however, I did find it difficult to put down. I think that kids of all ages would be able to follow the story and enjoy solving the mystery along with the children in the story.

Will her new partner ruin everything? Will Betty ever come back? And what on earth happened to the silver trophy everyone’s hoping to win? Lauren Child brings her trademark wacky wit and eccentric visual energy to a full-length, fast paced Clarice Bean episode that will charm even the most capricious reader.

The narrative is just deadpan enough to highlight the moose shenanigans, and Bridget’s attempts to cope with these unruly guests actually hint in an exaggerated way at what real siblings might be like.

“Bridget’s room is too quiet, and she is tired of it. She wants a brother or a sister, a small, thin one that will fit in her doll’s bed. Or also a big brother who plays loud and noisy music. ”

“But when I did get back, muddy from sliding down the hillside, bruised from fighting, once bleeding great spouts of blood from a stone wound to the head (I still have the scar, like a silver thumbnail), there would be the fire, and the smell of soup, and my mother’s arms not tearing me apart but trying to hold me, clean my face, or straighten my hair, while I twisted like a lizard to get away from her.”

Simon, Jared and Mallory Grace move into a creepy Victorian house with their mother after their parents divorce and the three kids get themselves in trouble. After moving in, they discover that something isn’t quite right with the house. It’s haunted, but not by ghosts. It’s haunted by fairies and other classic fantasy creatures from another world.

“That’s mine!” squeaked the Squirrel. “Stirring is my job. Give that back!” “You’re much too small.” snapped the Cat. “We’ll cook the way we always have.” But the Duck held on tight... until the Squirrel tugged with all his might... and -WHOOPS!- the spoon spun through the air, and bopped the Cat on the head. Then there was trouble, a horrible squabble, a row, a racket, a rumpus in the old white cabin.

Being a children’s book, I thought I would love it for the innocence in the writing and the illustrations. But heck, no (again!) I enjoyed it for what it is. Full of adventure, full of Robinson Crusoe vibes.

“I bet he’s in the pumpkin patch.” But the Duck was not in the pumpkin patch. They could not find him anywhere. So they waited...All that long afternoon... The Cat watched the door. The Squirrel paced the floor. “The Duck will be sorry when he comes home,” they muttered. But the Duck didn’t come home. Not even at soup time.

“I’m not staying here,” wailed the Duck. ” You never let me help with anything.” And he packed up a wheelbarrow, put on his his hat, and waddled away. “You’ll be back,” stormed the Cat, “after we’ve cleaned up” And the Squirrel shook his spoon in the air. But the Duck didn’t come back. Not for breakfast. Not even for lunch. “I’ll find him”, scoffed the Cat. “He’ll be hiding outside.”

However, he soon crosses paths with the island’s only other inhabitant: an irascible Japanese man named Kensuke. Despite the many differences between them, Michael and Kensuke soon become fast friends, but both of them will have to choose between their peaceful life on the island and the uncertainty of returning to civilisation…

Pumpkin soup. The best you ever tasted. Made by the Cat who slices up the pumpkin. Made by the Squirrel who stirs in the water. Made by the Duck who scoops up a pipkin of salt, and tips in just enough.

Morpurgo here spins a yarn which gently captures the adventurous elements one would expect from a desert-island tale, but the real strength lies in the poignant and subtle observations of friendship, trust and, ultimately, humanity.

They’re sitting in Grandpa’s shed – a stray dog and the two children, Prince Neumann and Lotta. The dog is telling a story, because he knows he’ll be rewarded with crispy chicken skin and a warm corner of the shed to sleep. The dog is telling the story of G. Odd, the great inventor, in whose garden he used to live.

“But still there was nothing.”

“What are you doing over there?” asked the dog. “Collecting feathers,” said Lotta. She turned around. “And what are you doing?” The dog squinted in the sun. It was early in the morning. The sun’s rays were slanted and did not give off much warmth. The dog was small and black and thin and very dirty.

“I spied my shadow slinking up behind me in the night, I issued it a challenge, and we started in to fight.”

“Yubbazubbies, you are yummy, you are succulent and sweet, you are splendidly delicious, quite delectable to eat...”

“I wrestled with that shadow, but it wasn’t any fun, I tried my very hardest— all the same, my shadow won.”

″..how I smack my lips with relish when you bump against my knees, then nuzzle up beside me, chirping, “Eat us if you please!”

Prelutsky really uses his imagination writing about things we’ve thought about and things we’d never even imagined. The poems open readers up to the world and minds of children.

“From rock to rock, snag to snag, tumbling slowly. And as he crashed and crashed and crashed. His iron legs fell off. HIs iron arms broke off, and the hands broke off the arms. His great iron ears fell off and his eyes fell out.”

“Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story, because nobody has ever heard my side of the story.” That’s Alexander T. Wolf talking, and he’d like to set the record straight. He says, “I don’t know how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got started, but it’s all wrong . . . The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar.”

“They go with her to other worlds delivering baked goods and various items to creatures. It’s a funny and weird tale.”

“One winter’s night it was so cold it began to snow. Great big snowflakes fell past the window...

“One day, their mother went to the mainland to find yarn to make new clothes for the children.”

“Little Red Chicken is portrayed to be quite young, very enthusiastic and energetic considering this book is based at night. ”

“I’m Elsa, and that’s one of my jokes (I tell LOTS of jokes and I’m going to be a big star one day). I do my best to cheer my family up - but no one seems to laugh much any more. Not since we lost our lovely house and had to move into a bed and breakfast hotel .”

“Hundred of years ago they had climbed through the hills, carrying the few things they owned on their back, looking for somewhere in this strange land that they could claim as their own. They had come from far away, across the sea. They had fought a terrible enemy. On the coast they had heard, from the wandering native people called the Travelers, of a place at the bottom of a forbidden mountain in the high country far inland.”

“And the sisters realize that perhaps the queen cast them from their homes not out of anger or spite- but because they were the only ones who could do what must be done.”

“Bravest heart will carry on when sleep is death, and hope is gone. Rowan doesn’t believe he has a brave heart. But when the river that supports his village of Rin runs dry, he must join a dangerous journey to its source in the forbidden Mountain.”

“To save Rin, Rowan and his companions must conquer not only the Mountain’s many tricks, but also the fierce dragon that lives at its peak. ”

“Rowan knew, as Annad did not, that without the bukshah there would be not rich, creamy milk to drink, no cheese, curd, and butter to eat. There would be no tick gray wood for cloth.There would be no help to plow the fields or carry in the harvest. There would be no broad backs to bear the burden on the long journeys down to the coast to trade with the clever, silent Maris fold. The life of Rind dependen on the bukshah. Without them, the village, too, would die.”

“This book is about a tough cookie who tries to save the cookie jar from the enemy “Fingers”. This book is a good example of fantasy because it creates an entire society and life of cookies within a typical cookie jar.”

“Crowstarving was the ideal job for Spider - he was on his own - yet never alone, for all around him were animals of one sort or another.”

Discovered as a foundling in a lambing pen, Spider Sparrow grows up surrounded by animals. From sheep and horses to wild otters and foxes, Spider loves them all, even the crows must scare away the newly sown wheat.

“It is a place almost destroyed by fear and darkness, and the children are charged with guarding its Treasures while a way is sought to save the dying land.”

“It was from Elidor that they returned with the four sacred Treasures on which that weird land depended: a spear, a stone, a sword, and a cauldron.”

“A woman’s scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty’s arms.”

“He looked into the water and saw that it was made up of a thousand thousand thousand and one different currents, each one a different colour, weaving in and out of one another like a liquid tapestry of breathtaking complexity;...”

“So If the water genie told Haroun about the Ocean of the Stream of Stories, and even though he was full of a sense of hopelessness and failure the magic of the Ocean began to have an effect on Haroun. ”

“Haroun went with this father whenever he could, because the man was a magician, it couldn’t be denied. He would climb up on to some little makeshift stage in a dead-end alley packed with raggedy children and toothless old-timers, all squatting in the dust;...”

“But Old Tom loved bath time most of all, when he could splash about and make a mess. He always liked to look his best.. especially when he went out to play.”

“Winnie, the Witch lives in a black house. She has black chairs, black floors and black doors. The trouble is that Winnie’s cat, Wilbur, is also black. ”

“After sitting on him and tripping over him, Winnie turns Wilbur into a green cat. But then, he goes out into the grass. Winnie is going to need magic to make sure she can always see Wilbur.”

’Now, when Wilbur slept on a chair, Winnie could see him. When Wilbur slept on the floor, Winnie could see him. And she could see him when he slept on the bed. But Wilbur was not allowed to sleep on the bed....”

“One night when the flies were very bad and they could not sleep he had sat up suddenly in his cot and told her that when he grew up he wanted to be a jockey.”

“Would you like to denude the earth of all the trees and all the living beings in order to satisfy your fantasy of rejoicing in the naked light?”

“Mary Katherine should have anything she wants, my dear. Our most loved daughter must have anything she likes…”

“You’re expecting us to go back there, to put ourselves at risk, and saying you’ll talk to them again just isn’t good enough! We though you had talked to them!′ The other chorused and nodded agreement, hair flying, beards bobbing.”

It’s a tale firmly rooted in aboriginal myth and culture, but one that will appeal to any child who’s been afraid of the dark.

“He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client--and her prince. And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.”

“In nature, a child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy: a place distant from the adult world, a separate peace.”

One morning, almost as if in a dream, Billy wakes up to find that he has turned into a girl!

“I began reading the flyer again, immersed in the drawings and descriptions of the performers. In fact, I was so immersed, I forgot about Mr. Dalton. I only remembered him when I realized the room was silent.”

A boy sneaks out to an illicit freak show, and his life becomes entangled with a vampire spider-wrangler.

“They hadn’t travelled far when someone squawked and cursed. This was followed by uneasy laughter. Something flew past Yukin, its wings pushing it through the air like a swift arrow.”

So begins Gwyn’s journey as a magician. Against the shimmering backdrop of a magical domed city, Gwyn has to battle evil and heal a fractured family.

On his ninth birthday, Gwyn is given a brooch and told to cast it into the wind. Later he discovers the wind has sent something back: the snow spider.

The dreadful conditions he encounters compel him to use his twentieth-century knowledge to try to create order out of chaos, and in spite of himself he becomes a leader and organizer.

Czar Guidon kept his son Safa imprisoned in a tower. His power could only be matched by the witch-girl Chingis.

“She heard the outer door of the house open, and slam shut. Raising her head, she looked down from the stove-top and saw the inner door fly open. In hurried a tall figure, hidden under a big fur hat and a long, quilted, padded, fantastically embroidered coat.”

Danny survives the bombing and rejoins what is left of his family to face the struggles of life after the bombing. The book is full of awful scenes---the dead who died from the bombing, the dead who slowly die after the bombing, shooting those who have food, and much more.

“We were soon down in the village and went clattering down the village street on our horses. It wasn’t difficult to find out way because we could hear laughter and talk from a long way away. ”

Fifteen-year-old Dolf uses a prototype time machine and gets stuck in the Middle Ages. Trying to find his way back to the twentieth century, he joins a children’s crusade of almost ten thousand children on their way to the Holy Land.

“I swam around for quite a while and then I scrambled up on to the bridge and stood there, wet trough, the water running out of my clothes. My trousers were clinging to my legs, which was why I could see so clearly what had happened.”

“There are some things you never forget. Never, ever, ever shall I forget that first evening in the kitchen at Knights Farm, how wonderful it was and what it felt like to lie talking to Jonathan just as before.”

A cruel tyrant is determined to claim it as his own, and at his command is a terrible beast that is feared throughout the land.

‘Small!’ said the albatross. ‘What isn’t small compared to the ocean! The blue whale’s the biggest thing that swims, and that’s small in the ocean. If the ocean wasn’t big it wouldn’t be the ocean.”

A time machine catapults a twentieth-century teenager -intelligent and headstrong - to the thirteenth century. Rudolf Hefting of Amsterdam thought the was engaged in an experiment that would take him back to the Middle Age to a tournament of knights.

“In a place far distant from where you are now grows an oak-tree by a lake. Round the oak’s trunk is a chain of golden links. Tethered to the chain is a learned cat, and this most learned of all cats walks round and round the tree continually.”

Afraid of the wild waves and the storm skies, he meets a fiddler crab with no bow and together they avoid facing their fears.

“Dolf was feeling troubled again. Stealthily, he glanced at his watch. Heavens! Half-past four! He had completely forgotten the time. There was no possibility now of this visiting that medieval town.”

Karl must summon all of his courage to help his brother prepare for the battle that lies ahead . . .

“We live in the block next door to our old block now, in an apartment exactly like the old one, but it’s on the ground floor. We have been given some second-hand furniture by the parish, and the women have also given as some things.”

“There’s not such thing as an afraid albatross,” said the albatross. “The ocean wouldn’t bed the ocean without storms. And the ocean is where I live. How can you get lost when you’re were you live? I was born on a rock in the middle of the ocean, and Wandering is my name.”

“The guards led him through the streets to the Prime Minister’s house. The General knocked on the door and at once it was opened by the Prime Minister’s daughter.”

“One day a certain Monsieur Pierre appears there, the Rue Broca, a most unusual Paris street. The children know that he is a witch in disguise.”

But the stone is exchanged once more, and the charm succeeds: Fia and Hampus are themselves, but, having been Fideli and Prince Perilous, they are no longer afraid.

“Benjy, trotting toward the barn now, knew that Slim must have felt the wind’s blustering in the night, felt it shake his frail little place as the wood in his stove turned to ash too soon.”

″ Everyone was curious so they decided to explore the island. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find Mrs. Krintuuth. The mailman said he would be back in a week to take back the package if they do not find Mrs. Krintuuth.”

“Narrative where Mo launches into her sagacious monologues or her cow-related sayings such as: – ‘Better a Cow alone than a cow in bad company’.”

“Non, non!′ answered the Frenchman, greedily catching the bag of gold which Jake tossed over to him. ‘You are too kind, Captain Cut-throat!’ ‘Ho-ho-ho-ho! Kindness is my second name.”

“Only Jessika can hear him speak and so the other people start worrying about her.”

“Jolly Captain Pugwash is delighted at the prospect of earning 500 golden crowns for smuggling barrels of brandy across the English Channel. But little does he suspect what’s really inside the barrels!”

“One day there is a horse standing in front of the house and there’s a man sitting in the living room. ”

“The pirate tells her about his past and that his biggest wish is to see his father again.”

“Jessika at first believes that he’s the pirate until she realizes that he is in fact her father.”

“The stone starts talking to her and tells her that he is the heart of a pirate.”

“His mother Bel Bel, herself a cream colour, knows that Thowra (named for the wind) will be sought by man because of his colour and trains him well.”

“I could still imagine Thowra eluding capture because of the lessons Bel Bel had taught him.”

“‘Once there was a dark, stormy night in spring …’ On this night, Thowra, the silver brumby is born.”

“There were lots of pans in the shop, but I said: ‘If I can’t have that pan hanging right over the shop assistant’s head, I won’t buy any pan at all. For that is the best pan in the whole world, and I’m sure if I were ever in trouble that pan could jump on to the stove by itself.”

“You can’t do half the things yourself that children in books do, making models or so on. I wonder why?”

“That the little unicorn is a baby goat, crippled, sick and too quiet a playmate, means nothing to Joe or to his good friend, Mr. Kandinsky.”

“He possesses a magic wand, which can however be used only twice and which he retains to heal himself if he becomes ill.”

“Here’s little Moomintroll, none other, harrying home with milk for mother. Quick, Moomintroll, it’s nearly night. Run home while there’s a bit of light. Don’t hang around in woods like these, strange creatures lurk between the trees.”

“They are given a magic phone--actually just a receiver--by a stranger in payment for helping him find his missing eyeglasses.”

“The bears feast in the enemy camp, where they meet Professor De Ambrosiis, the Grand Duke’s sorcerer and ex-astrologer who he sacked for having predicted the fall of his kingdom.”

“Then he would stop and the silly freight cars would go bump into each other. “oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! they cried again. Edward pushed them until they were running nicely, and when they weren’t expecting it, he would stop.”

“As a reward for a kind deed, Max and Sally receive a magic telephone that performs incredible feats for its new owners.”

“Professor De Ambrosiis, however, is forced to perform a spell to save the bears and himself from the attack of the boar army of the Sire of Molfetta, cousin and ally of the Grand Duke”

“Leonzio and some of his followers break into the Excelsior theater, where the Grand Duke, kept by his collaborators unaware of the real situation, is witnessing the final show of the evening: Tonio, forced to perform as an acrobat. ”

“Ernest, a bear, and Celestine, a mouse, lose Celestine’s stuffed bird in the snow.”

“It turns out to be magic, of course, and they have silly adventures.”

″ This spell consists in causing the boars to swell until they then explode in the sky. After several adventures, the bears reach the capital of the Grand Duchy, where they hope to find plenty of food.”

“Presently he heard a whistle. Gordon came puffing along, very slowly, and very crossly. Instead of nice shining coaches, he was pulling a lot of very dirty coal cars.”

“Sister Fish looks up from the depths of her river and longs to swim in the sky. Brother Bird peers down at the “other sky,” a stretch of blue river he wants to explore. ”

“Arthur, with Merlin at his side, spends much time in the next few years building an army of loyal and heroic young men, many of them also orphaned, and fighting back the warlords who have made his country of Logres into a wasteland.”

“Anancy Spiderman had no idea what he was going to do today. But he knew something would happen if he started moving. He left his house and started walking along the road.”

“They give animals the gift of human speech. ”

“They shrink to fight strep germs in their friend’s throat.”

″ But the heart of the magic that binds them - Firefrost, also known as the Weirdstone of Brisingamen - has been lost. ”

“Ead Duryan is an outsider from the South who acts as a lady-in-waiting and protector to Sabran.”

“Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.”

“Their descendents in the House of Berethnet have ruled Inys as queens and been the symbol of the religion of Virtuedom, while dragons and magic are condemned and feared. ”

“Theresa sells her Highgate house and moves to the picture-perfect town of Bellevue-sur-Mer, just outside Nice.”

“From the dim depths of the hangar half a dozen tousled-headed ack-emmas watched their officers furtively as they pretended to work on a war-scarred Camel.”

“She wants to make a gift for her mother, but she doesn’t know what. She is meeting with Mr Rabbit, who helps her with ideas...”

“The next night, it’s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to defy expectations and do things differently.”

“Or, it’s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to do things in a different way from what he’s supposed to do.”

“I pause. Something about this doesn’t feel right. I’ve had to rely on my instincts quite a lot over the years. And I’ve also been here before. Hand clasped around the door handle. Not knowing what I’m going to find on the other side-”

“Find the light that makes your lantern shine,” she used to say. “hold on to it, even when the dark surrounds you. Not even the strongest wind will blow out the flame.”

“And you’ll find yourself wishing that you were out there in Fotta-fa-Zee and not here in this chair.”

“Claudia friends called Miranda and Punka ‘giant cats.’ ‘Why, they were colosal!’ they exclaimed. Punka, though more than a year younger, was even larger than her mother.”

‘A snowman becomes mobile, and in his wanderings decides to seek a place where he can live and never melt.”

“The last four gnomes in Great Britain live beside Folly Brook in Warwickshire; they are named after the flowers Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry.”

“Miranda and Punka always raced to the flower garden, shaking their heads as though they had gotten a drop of water on them, and hid from the noisy man.”

“And no cat was allowed on her street either. The cats of Rome knew this by now. However there had been one cat who came in the night. This was the great and awful lizard cat with the broken tail who had come from Barcelona in Spain to Rome.”