Ye Wee Daft Fool

This week we've been reading N.D. Wilson's Wingfeather Tale, "Willow Worlds." If you've read his 100 Cupboards series, you may find some parallels. The snippet below made me laugh.

Podo looked up at the falls, and then around the willow grove. The last time he’d been in this place, the sun had been setting and he’d been in a rush, holding his breath to try and avoid ingesting any misty poisons. He’d tied a pony to a rotting stump well downstream, and then he’d raced around with a small ax and a rusty saw until he’d found a forked willow with a small trunk, just big enough to suit.Two hands by two handsgreen leaf freebranchless, budless,feet length threetrunk wood and no otherye wee daft fool.That’s the rhyme that Growlfist had spoken—although Podo was pretty sure that the end hadn’t been part of it.
What was your favorite bit of this story? Post it below! Then come over to the forum to chat with us about "Willow Worlds," 100 Cupboards, or the two previous Wingfeather Tales we've read.Andrew's on the road this weekend. Check out his music site to see if he'll be near you!

The Edge of Dawn Tour with Audrey Assad

Andrew's spring tour kicks off on Thursday, and with him with be Audrey Assad and a full band. Check out his music site for details! If you're near any of the shows, Andrew would love to meet you and sign your books. ;-)Here is a little video of Andrew standing under his stone arch (!) and talking with Audrey about the tour:https://www.instagram.com/p/BQeNkvbgr66/And here's a little preview of Audrey, if you've not yet heard her music:https://youtu.be/Li2hddmy63U

This week, Madame Sidler will be reading N.D. Wilson's Wingfeather Tale, "Willow Worlds." Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to post one of your own.Featherheads, I love our forum. Wander over there and check out the cool conversations happening. I'm glad to know you people. :-)

The fendrilady and the fendril

In the midst of a great fury of squawking, squattering, snapping, snaggering, and stampeding, these few sentences, a momentary calm, hang in the air as if gliding.

There are those who are lucky enough to find a life of settled, unsquillious domesticitude in this world. There are also those who are lucky enough to soar on the back of the Lone Fendril behind a woman whose face has been furrowed by suffering and whose mind has been sown with hope.I am the second kind of lucky.
What was your favorite passage from the second half of this story? Share it in the comments!How would you design a School of Betterment? Did one of Jennifer’s delightful words particularly grab you? Are you a saggy hound or a tahala? How does sorrow relate to beauty? Join us in the forum. :-)

Stone wall at the Warren

For the last few weeks, Andrew has spent all his spare time collecting rocks, obsessing over rocks, stacking rocks. He has endured teasing from his kids and at least one banged finger, but he has persevered. And the result? Amazing. I'm in complete awe.https://www.instagram.com/p/BQa5m2kASqf/When I see this fence I think of Andrew's European wanderings, where he and his family have stood on castle walls and under arches hundreds of years old; and, in my own world, of the stone walls of the Great Library which have stood for generations, old as the trees.There is another stone wall at the Warren, one over 150 years old. This arch, like that wall, is not made with mortar; nothing holds it together but a keystone, and the knowledge of how to do that comes down to us from ages long past. I imagine Andrew joining history in raising this wall, building in a tradition, being built into tradition himself, leaving a marker for generations to come. Some day, perhaps a hundred or two years hence, some other Son of Adam (or Son of Peter) may run their hand across the top of that wall and walk under the arch and be inspired to make something of their own which will also endure, and in doing so, will also join with history.Rest assured that Pete the Bookbindery Guildmaster has safely walked under this arch and, having lived, deemed it sound. He's not a stonemason himself, but he did write one once, and as his pate remains unbonked we'll take his word for it. :-)To watch the wall's progress, click over to Andrew's Instagram, and visit the Rabbit Room to read Andrew's own reflections.

This week, Madame Sidler will be finishing Jennifer Trafton's Wingfeather Tale, "The Wooing of Sophelia Stupe." Start where we left off last week—page 71, or Kindle location 1245, right after the words "Remember that, and beware." Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own!We've got a few fun Sophelia conversation-starters in the forum, and are still discussing Safiki as well. Head over there for some berry bibes and discussion!

Vexations and toebreak

This week and next we're reading Jennifer Trafton's remarvelant Wingfeather Tale, "The Wooing of Sophelia Stupe." I was amazed at the way she so perfectly emulated Pembrick's voice in this story, and yet her own writerly voice rises up through his, obbligato. It is a very Jennifer story, even as it is a very Ollister story. Here are the first two paragraphs. They delighted me thoroughly in at least twelve ways.

A letter from Ollister B. Pembrick, dated the 5th day of Sixmoon, Year 222, Third EpochTo the illustrious sirs and madams of Annieran University Press, formerly known as Graff Publishing, mysteriously transported from the Green Hollows to the Shining Isle sometime between the writing and the printing of my book The Inexhaustive Creaturepedia: Skreean Edition, and particularly to my editor Thaddeus Glapp, though you did not bother to read the manuscript the first time and can hardly be expected to read this letter (professional mockery! rudeness! but no matter), and most especially to the generous donors who allow the Press to continue printing books at all, though in latter times it has been forced to print primarily dog food labels in order to avoid insolvency in these illiterate days of Dang—Greetings, and forewarnings! This promised report of my recent travels is fraught with such heartbreak and, yea, toebreak, that even I, partly-maimed, half-gobbled, and ferociously-nibbled as I am, have never known its equal in tragedy. But this tragedy is mixed with an enormous dollop of hope and even unexpected pecuniary blessings (that is, a fat purse of coins) and so I send them to you—coins, hope, and tragedy, sealed in a single envelope—with trust that you will greet my story, and my subsequent plea, with your fullest sympathy and aid.And so to my tale.
What was your favorite passage from the first half of this story! Share it in the comments!How would you design a School of Betterment? Did one of Jennifer's delightful words particularly grab you? Are you a saggy hound or a tahala? What Durgan sneakeries have you found in this tale? Come to the forum!

Wingfeather peg dolls

A reader named Tasha sent Andrew a heartfelt email last weekend to thank him for the Wingfeathers and to share the peg dolls she'd painted for her nieces. Her sweet family has found a kinship with the Igiby clan. ? Look how wonderfully Tasha captured Nicholas Kole's artwork in these little peg people.Do you find yourself in the Saga, too? Are there any other books that help you feel at home in a big world? Will you tell us about that?Click the pictures to zoom in. (Check out Peet's eyes.)[gallery ids="12011,12012,12013,12014,12015,12016,12017"]

This week, Madame Sidler will be reading the first half of Jennifer Trafton's Wingfeather Tale, "The Wooing of Sophelia Stupe," found on pages 49-71. (If you're reading the Kindle, stop at location 1245, right after the words "Remember that, and beware.") Check back on Friday for an excerpt, and to share one of your own!For conversations about Ollister, Edd, Sophelia, and Safiki, come over to the forum!

The Chase

Andrew writes excellent chase scenes. This one is suspenseful and lively, and the last line is one of my favorites in the whole story.

Safiki skidded to a stop where three narrow alleys intersected. ... When he turned around he saw a boy not much older than himself sneaking toward him.“You are the one with the book,” the boy said, cracking his knuckles. Safiki backed away.“He is Safiki, the one with the book,” said another voice, and Safiki saw the three children stand up from their game of Cat Punch.“You,” said the old woman with the sheep sandwich, “have the look of a boy with a rare and precious book.”The satchel suddenly felt as conspicuous as a third foot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Safiki said.“Get him,” the woman barked.The four children chased him to a dead end, which was fine since Safiki was an excellent climber. He shimmied up one wall and hand-walked along a laundry line to the opposite wall while the children threw trash at him and jumped to try and grab his feet. He swung through an open window and interrupted a family gathered around a table to eat a meal of ferno-on-the-bone. The father looked up from his prayers and gasped, “It is the boy with the book!”“Safiki!” said the mother.“Get him!” screamed the three young children.Safiki jumped onto the table and danced across it, dodging hands and swiping a bite of roasted ferno lizard leg in the process, then tore through the house while the family shouted curses behind him. He burst from their front door onto a narrow walkway above the street. Residents from the other houses poked their heads from windows and doorways. “What is all this fuss?” they shouted, and then, “Get him! He has the book!”Safiki edged along the railing, squirming and twisting out of the grip of many hands, until he reached a set of stairs at the end. A crowd had already gathered in the alley below, so he had no choice but to climb another flight. He reached a rope bridge to the next building, which was several stories taller than the last, and climbed again, higher and higher as the people of the Wormway grew in number and anger...
What was your favorite scene from the second half of "Yorsha Doon"? Tell us below! And join us in the forum for some great discussions. This week we're talking about the risks of friendship, a significant repetition, and the many codes Safiki must decipher.Announcement for young writers: We have just partnered with the newly-formed Flabbit Room to provide a place for you to discuss your story-writing together. Check out their forum here. Thanks to The Flabbit Room's proprietor, Elia Tyson, for heading this up!

The stories are true.