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Splendors
and Glooms A colorful cart rattles its way along a London street in Victorian England. Pushed by two dirty orphans and pulled by the amazing puppet master Gaspare Grisini, the awkward cart soon blossoms into a puppet theater that promises smiles, laughter, and wonder. Children gather in the park for a treat, but the marionette performance that is about to begin will change the life of young Clare Wintermute forever. Mesmerized, not only by the marionettes, Clare finds herself equally enchanted by Grisini's apprentice, Parsefall, a small, skinny young boy with only 9 fingers who works the puppets with the puppet master and Lizzie Rose, a girl with reddish hair and a narrow face who plays the instruments during the show. Afterward, Clare wants nothing more than to schedule the puppet caravan and its fantoccini (marionettes) to perform at her birthday party, but she has no idea the danger she is inviting into her lavish home. You see, Grisini, is not only a puppet master. He is also an evil magician with plans of his own. And then, there is Grisini's friend, Cassandra, who lives in a crumbling mansion on a beautiful countryside in a place named Strachan's Ghyll (pronounced Strawn's Gill). You will soon see that Cassandra is a witch. An old, evil witch around whose neck hangs a filigree locket containing a powerful fiery stone that not only lends her its power, but that also keeps her under its evil spell and promises a horrible death. She MUST break the curse! But Cassandra needs ... some children. Splendors and Glooms weaves two stories into a unique dark Gothic tale complete with pure Good and pure Bad fairytale-like characters, magic, Bible verses, Christian faith vs. witchcraft, the struggle between good and evil, a journey, universal truths like forgiveness, generosity, and transformation. Splendors and Glooms won the well-deserved 2013 Newbery Honor Award. It is filled with exciting adventure, high-level vocabulary, deep enchanting characterization, and beautiful literary quality that brings the fairy-tale motif to a new level of enjoyment for children, ages 11-100! The Kids Wings 60-page literature guide and 100-slide Jeopardy-type game will provide problem-solving, enthusiastic collaboration, character-building, and social and academic growth in groups. It is one of Kids' Wings favorite young adult fairytale and is forecast to become our favorite adult fairytale when we grow up. Would C. S. Lewis have approved? YES! In his words: "And I think it possible that by confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable. For, in the fairy tales, side by side with the terrible figures, we find the immemorial comforters and protectors, the radiant ones; and the terrible figures are not merely terrible, but sublime." Language Alert-p. 97 (d---), p. 265 (b----) Research
Links for The
Author's Story Parsefall's Dialect: What is a Cockney Dialect? British Coins and Their Relative Values Wikipedia
History of Puppets Cholera
(Wikipedia) What
is Diphtheria? ------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kids Wings 60-page literature guide PLUS interactive Jeopardy-type game, perfect for lesson plans, handouts, or projection on your SmartBoard for Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz is now available! The
60-Kids Wings Activity Guide Contains:
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Kids
Wings Picture Book Fairytales ------------------------------------------------------------------ Quotes to memorize: "When I was ten, I read fairytales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." C. S. Lewis "Those of us who are blamed when old for reading childish books were blamed when children for reading books too old for us. No reader worth his salt trots along in obedience to a time table." C. S. Lewis “I believe that in a way, sadness is happiness for there can be no wrong without right, no light without dark, no success without failure, no relief without pain, no love without hatred and no Snow White without the evil queen.” Girl234 ------------------------------------------------------------------ More
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2013, Suzy Red, Lockhart, Texas |
A
special thank you to the gifted artist, 
