Pip and Winnie's fairy door.
Do you ever find portals while reading?
Lucy Pevensie's wardrobe
Alice's rabbit hole
Harry's Platform Nine and Three Quarters
Dorothy's tornado
Meg Murry's tessaract
Characters in these stories are ordinary people,
minding their own perfectly normal business
when whoosh! -
in zips a talking rabbit, a parliament of owls, an envelope in emerald ink,
bag ladies spouting Latin -
and the next thing they know
they've been carried away into a gloriously different world -
and life is never the same.
Children, lunatics and writers
live on the edge of that line between fantasy and reality.
Life is good here.
It takes less work to believe in books,
to look for fairy doors
and hang out near them, hoping for a way in.
At least, that's my excuse when I find myself
wishing for Diagon Alley,
an invitation to Camp Halfblood,
or to see Aslan face to face.
What are your favorite story doors?
Chalkboard paint and iridescent white acrylic
transformed a boring corner of Pip and Winnie's bedroom
into trees crossing paths
over a secret door to fairyland.
I think they like it.
The fairies, I mean.
If you look very carefully,
you can see them glowing.
And more fairy finds:
Wish baby
- a gift from my friend M. Bloom.
Her blog, We Bloom Here is full of lovely handcrafted inspiration such as these darling fairy people.
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| M. Bloom |
Another blog for the fairy-hearted:
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| Ruthie Redden |
is compiled by Scottish artist Ruthie Redden, who has a knack for making and gathering beauty.
Books with great doors:
The Wishing of Biddy Malone
by Joy Cowley, ill. Christopher Denise
Sky Pie Angel Food Cake
by Nancy Willard, ill. Richard Jesse Watson
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis,
ill. Christian Birmingham
The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald,
ill. Jessie Wilcox Smith
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum,
ill. Lisbeth Zwerger
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle, ill. Leo and Diane Dillon
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A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, ill. Trina Schart Hyman
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
by Lewis Carroll, ill. Barry Moser
The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
Add more favorites in the comments;
I'd love your recommendations!
5 comments:
Those are great examples, and since you've got me thinking....Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones) has doors that open on unlikely places, as does Un Lun Dun (China Mieville). then there are the very unsettling portals of The Golden Compass series (Philip Pullman).
You make me want to paint a little fairy door in my room. :)
Thank you, Tricia! I can't wait to check them out. I haven't read the Golden Compass series yet either, so I will have a look!
Yes, to Howl's Moving Castle! Love it! I dream of hidden doors inside closets at least once a month, that lead to wondrous hidden rooms. Does the door to The Secret Garden count?
Wahoo to The Secret Garden! That's definitely a portal to adventure. There are hidden house tunnels in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, too, which was my childhood gateway book (the book that got me excited about reading). And, thanks so much for visiting!
Hello treasure, thank you so much for the lovely mention, i got here finally lol. What a delicious array of books. My dear grandpa used to tell us mnay made up stories when we were small, one of them included a "door" tale. But a fave, hmmm, i think i to will have to go for the The Golden Compass series, having just recently read it. x
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