A review by blissof_jvanderhoof
Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia
5.0
In the town of Greymist Fair you will meet several characters from many of the lesser known fairy tales that author Francesca Zappa has been able to pull together nicely, creating a tightly woven, beautiful tale that will forever be here to teach readers the lessons we need to learn about life and the business of living it. The overall lesson that I took from the book, that is now here, in print, for the next generation of children to read, are many and, as follows, below. The book focuses largely on the concept of death and deals with many issues in it.
And, throughout the whole book, as the characters from the lesser fairy tales all have their tale, all in relation to death, who they will either submit to before the end or have to combat in the end, there are lesser known lessons that we find. Ones about magic, friendship, family, there are losses, very little in gains, until the end. Throughout the book we see death as a lonely, controlling creature who all the characters either hide or flee from. One of the major points of the tale, when people die they are turned into wargs. There is even a moment in the book where a character comments that wargs do not normally go after others, and are not the harbingers, servants of death. That the wargs are only this way because of how the villagers let death control them, through their fear of him.
The protector of the village is a witch, a nice change from most stories in which a witch is normally a sinister, nefarious character, here, our heroine. The fact that she needs to keep this hidden from the villagers for the protection of herself is however, still sad. Here thought, another lesson we must learn in life. While it is nice to always be able to tell the truth, we teach our children that the truth always prevails in life, that it is always best to tell it, that truth, in fact, is still something the world might not always accept, sometimes might be better off hidden or not spoken about. And, while I would love to be able to tell the world everything about myself, the sad fact is, I'd have to make them accept me, because most of the world wouldnt accept me willingly. But, as long as I am okay with myself and I have people I love and love me. That is all that matters and that is what the author conveys here, in the story. Because the witch is loved for who she is by the people who know and love her and that is all that matters to her.
The sad fact is that I believe that the world can sometimes not want to hear the truth of the whole matter. While the woman in the story was a witch and she protects the whole village of Greymist Fair from death, she hid that fact from the villagers for the protection of herself, from what they thought and especially later, when she had a daughter, for the protection of her child (who later goes on to be the witch who protects the village). And we learn this in life too. That sometimes the world cannot deal with the whole truth of a situation and that some facts need to be kept to oneself. The witch was not harming anyone, but was, in fact, protecting the village. And, just as in life, when we have a secret that society can’t deal with, sometimes it is better to keep that secret to oneself, or, within the group of people we love, however small that group is. The world is not a perfect place and the world is not always right. Like in Greymist Fair, the world is filled with imperfect creatures!
As much as this is a book for children and young adults, I love it when I, as a forty year old woman, can read a book and find something about myself, while reading it. And really, in reflecting while writing a book review, thinking back on all the thoughts and feelings I had while reading the book, the journey in reading it, I love when I really picked up so much from a book, that I can relate it to my life and myself, as I was able to do here. And as silly as it can be for an adult to find things out about themself in a children's book, you know it's a good book, because the best ones are when anyone can find out things about themself when reading it, as I was able to do in Greymist Fair.
I can remember when I thought about what I wanted to tell my son about God, death, when I thought about how I wanted him to view his life while still having to live with the fact that these concepts are something he will have to deal with, in living. And, I wish I would have had this book or a book about life like this, at the time. Because, I would have read him this story, told him about Greymist Fair and that all the villagers, in having to combat death, had to go on with life, had to live their life to the fullest to keep him away from the town. The story of Greymist Fair teaches children (and, I have found, adults too) that in living and in celebrating life, as the residents celebrated Yule despite the fact that the wargs, and death were coming for the village, only in the celebration of life can we combat death. And it is a beautiful lesson and great to be reminded of on the occasions when we, as adults, can sometimes forget this too! But, in learning this lesson, there is still more to be shared, more to this tale, the celebration is not over yet, still one member of the town, missing the festivities.
In the end, however, it is not the fear of death that you need to forget (some of the characters in the book realize) but the acceptance that death is a part of life. Death is making room for the new, an essential part of the cycle of life. Greymist Fair, after all, is the home of death, too. He had just never been welcomed or accepted there, always feared and discouraged from being a “part of”. And so, during the villagers' celebration of Yule death is welcomed and received as a member of the party and village. Because of this, the wargs are released as the gruesomes beasts they were and are now simply, as the old tales were told, helpers to the lost and wandering. Death further promises not to harm any in the village who still fear him because he has had forgiveness and the acceptance of some of the villagers. It is a beautiful, heartwarming tale, forgiving death (as an actualy being, much like a person) and the acceptance of him!!
I will always be the type of adult who likes to pick up fairy tales and young adult books (books such as this) to be reminded of the things I learned when I was young. When you go about the business of living and so many things are happening in life, sometimes you forget those simpler lessons and need to be reminded. And, sometimes there were things that we, growing into adults, missed along the way, too busy, too anxious, too scared to pick them up. Or, maybe there was no one there to teach them, or the book we happened to read, they weren't there or we didn't pick up on them.
I want to thank Francesca Zappia for Greymist Fair and a story where I could find all these lessons and more. I can't wait to see what she does next as this book was simply wonderful and I recommend it to anyone who can take a small window of time out of their day to engage in a story worth reading, remembering and sharing! I really loved this book and it's well worth the time it takes to read to have heard the story of Greymist Fair. It's a fast read, after all, if you dont think too much about it, as I did, lol! And, the last chapter, I don’t want to ruin it for readers but the whole story works out (the last chapter, great) and like in all fairy tales, there really is a happy ending!
Happy Reading!!
And, throughout the whole book, as the characters from the lesser fairy tales all have their tale, all in relation to death, who they will either submit to before the end or have to combat in the end, there are lesser known lessons that we find. Ones about magic, friendship, family, there are losses, very little in gains, until the end. Throughout the book we see death as a lonely, controlling creature who all the characters either hide or flee from. One of the major points of the tale, when people die they are turned into wargs. There is even a moment in the book where a character comments that wargs do not normally go after others, and are not the harbingers, servants of death. That the wargs are only this way because of how the villagers let death control them, through their fear of him.
The protector of the village is a witch, a nice change from most stories in which a witch is normally a sinister, nefarious character, here, our heroine. The fact that she needs to keep this hidden from the villagers for the protection of herself is however, still sad. Here thought, another lesson we must learn in life. While it is nice to always be able to tell the truth, we teach our children that the truth always prevails in life, that it is always best to tell it, that truth, in fact, is still something the world might not always accept, sometimes might be better off hidden or not spoken about. And, while I would love to be able to tell the world everything about myself, the sad fact is, I'd have to make them accept me, because most of the world wouldnt accept me willingly. But, as long as I am okay with myself and I have people I love and love me. That is all that matters and that is what the author conveys here, in the story. Because the witch is loved for who she is by the people who know and love her and that is all that matters to her.
The sad fact is that I believe that the world can sometimes not want to hear the truth of the whole matter. While the woman in the story was a witch and she protects the whole village of Greymist Fair from death, she hid that fact from the villagers for the protection of herself, from what they thought and especially later, when she had a daughter, for the protection of her child (who later goes on to be the witch who protects the village). And we learn this in life too. That sometimes the world cannot deal with the whole truth of a situation and that some facts need to be kept to oneself. The witch was not harming anyone, but was, in fact, protecting the village. And, just as in life, when we have a secret that society can’t deal with, sometimes it is better to keep that secret to oneself, or, within the group of people we love, however small that group is. The world is not a perfect place and the world is not always right. Like in Greymist Fair, the world is filled with imperfect creatures!
As much as this is a book for children and young adults, I love it when I, as a forty year old woman, can read a book and find something about myself, while reading it. And really, in reflecting while writing a book review, thinking back on all the thoughts and feelings I had while reading the book, the journey in reading it, I love when I really picked up so much from a book, that I can relate it to my life and myself, as I was able to do here. And as silly as it can be for an adult to find things out about themself in a children's book, you know it's a good book, because the best ones are when anyone can find out things about themself when reading it, as I was able to do in Greymist Fair.
I can remember when I thought about what I wanted to tell my son about God, death, when I thought about how I wanted him to view his life while still having to live with the fact that these concepts are something he will have to deal with, in living. And, I wish I would have had this book or a book about life like this, at the time. Because, I would have read him this story, told him about Greymist Fair and that all the villagers, in having to combat death, had to go on with life, had to live their life to the fullest to keep him away from the town. The story of Greymist Fair teaches children (and, I have found, adults too) that in living and in celebrating life, as the residents celebrated Yule despite the fact that the wargs, and death were coming for the village, only in the celebration of life can we combat death. And it is a beautiful lesson and great to be reminded of on the occasions when we, as adults, can sometimes forget this too! But, in learning this lesson, there is still more to be shared, more to this tale, the celebration is not over yet, still one member of the town, missing the festivities.
In the end, however, it is not the fear of death that you need to forget (some of the characters in the book realize) but the acceptance that death is a part of life. Death is making room for the new, an essential part of the cycle of life. Greymist Fair, after all, is the home of death, too. He had just never been welcomed or accepted there, always feared and discouraged from being a “part of”. And so, during the villagers' celebration of Yule death is welcomed and received as a member of the party and village. Because of this, the wargs are released as the gruesomes beasts they were and are now simply, as the old tales were told, helpers to the lost and wandering. Death further promises not to harm any in the village who still fear him because he has had forgiveness and the acceptance of some of the villagers. It is a beautiful, heartwarming tale, forgiving death (as an actualy being, much like a person) and the acceptance of him!!
I will always be the type of adult who likes to pick up fairy tales and young adult books (books such as this) to be reminded of the things I learned when I was young. When you go about the business of living and so many things are happening in life, sometimes you forget those simpler lessons and need to be reminded. And, sometimes there were things that we, growing into adults, missed along the way, too busy, too anxious, too scared to pick them up. Or, maybe there was no one there to teach them, or the book we happened to read, they weren't there or we didn't pick up on them.
I want to thank Francesca Zappia for Greymist Fair and a story where I could find all these lessons and more. I can't wait to see what she does next as this book was simply wonderful and I recommend it to anyone who can take a small window of time out of their day to engage in a story worth reading, remembering and sharing! I really loved this book and it's well worth the time it takes to read to have heard the story of Greymist Fair. It's a fast read, after all, if you dont think too much about it, as I did, lol! And, the last chapter, I don’t want to ruin it for readers but the whole story works out (the last chapter, great) and like in all fairy tales, there really is a happy ending!
Happy Reading!!