I love shiny things...
I try to update this section regularly, but I'm not very good at it, I'll admit. I do tend to leave firefox tabs open for longer than I should, though, so perhaps I'll start listing those here instead of just randomly bookmarking anything that looks interesting.
FAIRY TALES:
SUR LA LUNE FAIRY TALESWith 47 annotated fairy tales, modern interpretations, fairy tale illustration gallery, fairy tale music page, and forum, Sur La Lune Fairy Tales is one of the most comprehensive fairy tale sites around. Created by Heidi Anne Heiner, it's not only a wonderful resource, but a joy to read around.
The brainchild of Michael Salda, a fistful of English graduate students, and the University of Missouri, The Cinderella Project is a text and image archive of English versions of Cinderella. Its popularity has led Salda and his crack team to create similar archives for Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Jack the Giant-Killer.
A trove of fairy tale illustrations by the likes of Kay Nielsen, Edmund Dulac, and Arthur Rackham; pages devoted to Enchanted Cats, and e-cards. Need I say more?
An online archive of texts in the free domain, Project Gutenberg is a great place to leaf around on a rainy day. With downloadable versions of Andrew Lang's Fairy Books, The Brothers Grimm, and more, it's easy to catch up on your reading.
The largest freely available archive online, Sacred Texts is mostly about religion and religious tolerance. But nestled amongst its index-by-place are gems, such as Joseph Jacobs' English Fairy Tales, Celtic Folklore, and Gypsy Folktales, by Frances Hindes Groome.
A virtual exhibition of the Bibliotheque nationale de France, this is an interactive site illustrating the birth of fairy tales as a genre through imagery. Other sections of the site include fairy tales and their role in the family, the "marvellous universe", the ordeal or journey often involved in a tale, and fairy tales in everyday life.
Part of Penguin's "We Tell Stories" project, this is an interactive fairy tale site. Users enter pertinent information and make choose your own adventure style choices to create a fairy tale of their own. Take a moment to browse around the other "We Tell Stories" sites, too--they're all very interesting explorations of story telling and reading in the technological age.
THE SKY IS FALLING! MASS HYSTERIA IN FOLKTALE TYPES 20C AND 2033
Recently put together, this is a reworked Wordpress weblog about end of the world tales. An introduction to the page, its purpose, and tale type is first; comparisons and tale versions are also available.
FOLKLORE AND MYTHOLOGY ELECTRONIC TEXTS
From D.L. Ashliman, a folklorist and researcher, comes this wonderful electronic library. Check out the other pages, too: Folk Links; Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas; and Germany Discovers America.
I had the good fortune to meet Rick at the Children's Writers and Illustrators Conference at BYU this year. And not only is he interesting, encouraging, and a font of information--he's something an online fairy tale doyen, too! An excellent resource.
WRITING:
CYNTHEA LIU: WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS
Cynthea Liu (Paris Pan Takes The Dare, Forbidden City) posts about her writing life, writing for children and teens, and useful information for aspiring authors (such as How long does a children's book have to be?, Revision 9-1-1). Check out her crash course, and stay alert for the latest free-tique rounds.
HAROLD UNDERDOWN: THE PURPLE CRAYON
Children's book editor Harold Underdown's site on children's book publishing. Book reviews (The Essential Guide To Children's Books and Creators), tips and how tos (Chatting them up: tips for a successful interview), and articles (The attribution game: writing better dialogue) by a pool of talented contributors are just the tip of the iceberg.
Linda Sue Park's (A Single Shard, The Kite Fighters) pages on the importance of reading, discipline, novel structure, and getting published are a must-read, but I particularly love her new, clean take on the dreaded query letter. (Update, 08/08: Linda's website has been redone. Lots of fun, swirlysprockets to play with.)
VERLA KAY'S WEBSITE FOR CHILDREN'S AUTHORS & ILLUSTRATORS
Affectionately known as Verla's and The Blue Boards, this is the go-to site for all things children's lit. The discussion boards are overflowing with information, eclectic smileys (check out the ninja and the whirlwind), and goodwill. The getting started page is simple without being condescending. And then there's the online workshops in the #Kidlit chatroom...
Packed with great information in a succinct and accessible format. Just reading Holly's pages made me want to go dig up a copy of The Spiderwick Chronicles...
GENERAL:
(I'll admit it--I'm biased. He is my husband, after all.) Currently blogging his own 'know-it all attempt' atmospheric physics grad student Joe is reading his texts, from Wallace and Hobbs, to whatever is on the other end of the shelf. His goal? To be the not-least-adequate-physicist in the world. (Update, 08/08: not so many know-it-all posts at the moment. He has a thesis to write!)
AWAKEN YOUR SUPERHERO WITH CHRISTOPHER S. PENN
The face behind the popular Financial Aid Podcast, Christopher S. Penn is a public speaker, leader in new media, and co-founder of the PodCamp New Media Community Conference. His weblog is a marvelous hodge podge of the mundane (Viral is not word of mouth), gadget-love (Jake Pulver deploys the VoIpod Touch), and gentle spirituality (A choice with grief).
XKCD: A WEBCOMIC OF ROMANCE, SARCASM, MATH, AND LANGUAGE
Drawn by Randall Munroe, xkcd is, quite simply, hilarious. New to its irreverent joy? Be prepared to spend an hour. Or three.
Perhaps he should be up the top. Perhaps he should be in the writing section. Perhaps I thought, if you slogged it out this long, you deserved a treat.
Funny, twisted, talented. A mine of information. One of my favourite authors. Coraline still gives me shivers, still gives me faith.