A Jane Yolen book a day, and more on the way
March 6, 2018 5:22 PM   Subscribe

Jane Yolen's 365th book is being published today. Also her 366th. And there are at least nine more due out this year. (via The Big Idea series by MeFi's own jscalzi)

Yolen has written children's books, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, and essays.

She is awesome.
posted by kristi (14 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Story," the Old Man Said,
looking beyond the cave to the dragon's tracks. "Story is our wall against the dark."

He told the tale: the landing, the first death, the second.

They heard the rush of wind, the terrible voice, a scream, then another.

Beyond the wall, the dragon waited but could not get in.
posted by Iridic at 5:34 PM on March 6, 2018


"How Do Dinosaurs Go to Sleep?" is a real hit in our house, even if the part where we learn that the dinosaurs don't demand that you read them another book is a complete lie.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:46 PM on March 6, 2018 [4 favorites]


... a devastating Holocaust novel hanging from the armature of the Hansel and Gretel folk tale. And yes you may ask if there is a witch who gets shoved in the oven.

I have enjoyed many of her fantasy works but I think I'll pass on that.
posted by irisclara at 6:00 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


Jane Yolen is a treasure. I lost some of her books in a move, and am now inspired to hunt them down digitally. Thanks for the post! (Sister Light, Sister Dark is intriguing, and I've wanted to re-read it for years!)
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 6:31 PM on March 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


I remember when my son first got in to the "How Do Dinosaurs..." books, so I searched for her name at the library to put some on hold, and my first thought was that I couldn't understand how there were so many authors with that name.
posted by gatorae at 6:39 PM on March 6, 2018


Not meeting Jane Yolen when I had the chance to easily do so is one of my big "man I didn't do shit in college" regrets. I've been a fan of her work, not just her writing but her incredible influence as an editor and folklorist, for... since I became aware what fairytales were, probably, and definitely since I picked up a used copy of the first Dragon Pit book when I was probably much too young. Despite this lifelong admiration I've barely scraped the top of her bibliography. Now I realize why.
posted by Mizu at 6:41 PM on March 6, 2018


The How Do Dinosaurs Do The Thing books are a gift to children's librarians everywhere. I should write her a thank-you note.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:42 PM on March 6, 2018


I was introduced to Jane Yolen in the mid-80s when I was 12 or so, through the Pit Dragon novels, and then didn't really think of her stuff ever until I had my daughter and the Dinosaur books became revered in our household.
posted by gaspode at 7:30 PM on March 6, 2018


Jane Yolen lives out here in Western Mass (which has become kidlit central). I've met her a couple of times at one of our local independent bookstores, including the time she was a "guest bookseller" and helped me with my purchase (and signed a book for me while she was at it).
posted by camyram at 7:30 PM on March 6, 2018


Yolen has been been cheerful and charming every time we've seen her at children's literature events, sales, or signings (not an easy job when you've been outside signing books for three hours on a summer day). I knew she was prolific, but I hadn't realized by just how much!
posted by honest knave at 7:40 PM on March 6, 2018


I think Jane Yolen is one of those authors I would have told you was among my favourites when I was a child, but the only work of hers I remember obsessing over is Here There Be Unicorns.

I'll have to go hunt down some of her stuff - thanks for the reminder!
posted by invokeuse at 7:41 PM on March 6, 2018


I've read the first book in the Pit Dragon series and the first two books of the Sister Light, Sister Dark series, all of which are personal favorites, but in spite of that somehow I never got around to reading her other ... 363 books(!)
posted by kyrademon at 3:38 AM on March 7, 2018


...every now and then I discover that my brain has conflated two people based on some vague similarity of name or something else (I certainly wasn't alone in conflating Harvey Weinstein and Harvey Fierstein, but I may be a bit out there in combining Doris Day and Phyllis Diller, e.g.).

By wondering why no one was mentioning the vampire books, I have now realized that I had combined Chelsea Yarbro and Jane Yolen. Fantasy authors whose last name starts with Y, I guess. I know I've read a good number of her children's books to my little ones, but now I'm wondering if I've ever read any of her others.
posted by Four Ds at 8:05 AM on March 7, 2018


I met Jane Yolen at a Boskone maybe 15 years ago and she was absolutely lovely and I only wish I'd had my favorite book on hand for her to autograph, (though she did autograph the copy of Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast with an exhortation to do impossible things, which I treasure).
posted by TwoStride at 9:32 AM on March 7, 2018


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