Beauty and the Serpent: Thirteen Tales of Unnatural Animals »

Barbara Ann Porte is the author of many books for adults, teens, and children, including the young adult novel Something Terrible Happened; the chapter book Fat Fanny, Beanpole Bertha, and the Boys; and for younger readers, If You Ever Get Lost: The Adventures of Julia and Evan. Critics have praised her for her skillful storytelling, lively dialogue, convincing characterization, and humor. Her books have been named ALA Notable Books for Children and Best Books for Young Adults and American Booksellers Association "Picks of the Lists," among other honors. A storyteller and a former head of the Children's Services Division of the Nassau Library System, New York, Barbara Ann Porte lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Students who break the rules at Ernestine Wilde Alternative High School get sent to see Ms. Lavinia Drumm, the librarian. Tall and exotically dressed, wearing strange jewelry and voluminous shawls, and holding a carved shillelagh, Ms. Drumm is known for her uncanny storytelling. She bangs her shillelagh, sits atop a table, and begins her tales: of a boy who comes to an untimely end when he tries to teach crows to talk; of a woman who may actually be a fox; of a child who joins a family of cats below an escalator. These stories, bold and evocative -- and full of fur, feathers, and scales -- are stunningly original, yet embrace traditional and folk motifs.

Barbara Ann Porte, who is known for her superb storytelling, is in top form with this new collection of inventive tales paired with Rosemary Feit Covey's dramatic wood engravings.

Children's Literature

Ms. Drumm, the school librarian, mesmerizes pupils with her weird stories. Students hang on every word about the puppy from hell, Aunty Squirrel wearing a magic diamond ring on her tail, an African tokoloshi running off with a newborn baby, and Jimmy, the foster child, who is adopted by a cat. One of the students, Aimee, tells the story of her mother dining and dancing with a stranger in their basement...a stranger who seemed more ghost than gentleman. Ms. Tucker, the new student teacher, relates her meeting with her Grandmother on a school field trip—while Grandma was in a hospital in another country. Marlene's tale is about giant ferrets at a haunted house. And, the assistant principal reveals the story of the rooster born of a rattler. The final yarn is about a young girl, Beauty, and the eerie effects serpents had on her life. Children who like the scary and the unexplained will be attracted to these tales. Black-and-white wood engravings reinforce the bizarre nature of the stories. 2001, Simon and Schuster, $17.00. Ages 12 up. Reviewer:Chris Gill