The First Easter Rabbit (1976)

When I was a small child, I saw a couple of Rankin/Bass Easter specials made around the same time as their more famous Christmas specials. I looked on Amazon the other day and found out that they were still available. Since today is Easter I thought I might share at least one with you.

The First Easter Rabbit is very loosely on the story of the Velveteen Rabbit. As you know, in the original story a toy bunny is loved by a young boy. When the boy gets Scarlet Fever, his parents throw out all of his old toys and clothes to purify the room. The bunny is found by a fairy who makes her real and thus saves her from the fire.

In The First Easter Rabbit the story follows Velveteen for the first half of the story, then after the fairy makes the bunny real, he travels to Easter Valley in the North Pole to become the First Easter Bunny. He then saves Easter from the evil Zero who wants to make the warm, spring like Easter Valley like the rest of the North Pole. It was fun when I was six. I have not actually seen it in years, so I'm not sure what I would think of it today, but I still thought I would share. :)

A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz

A Conspiracy of Alchemists is actually the first book in the Chronicles of Light and Shadow Trilogy. I haven't read the other two because the back covers make me suspect a few whiney main characters which is one of my main turnoffs in any form of literature :) . Anyway, this first book is about Eleanor "Elle" Chance, an air pilot in a steam punk Europe. Not really caring what she carries as long as she gets paid, she ends up joining up with the mysterious Mr. Marsh and finding out that there is a war brewing between the Alchemists and the Warlocks and that she somehow is the prize that they're fighting for. Now Elle and Marsh have to make it through the war as Elle finds her destiny and what she was really meant for. A fun read, slightly different than the other things I have read.

Jackaby by William Ritter

The description in the book describes Jackaby as a tie between Dr. Who and Sherlock Holmes. I can see where they get that description. The title character has all the "factual" observations of Holmes and all the eccentricities of the good Doctor. So of course in my mind he kind of looks a bit like a toss up between Benidict Cumberbatch and David Tennant... 

 













Anyway, our story begins with one Abigail Rook coming into America and looking for work. The only person hiring is Jackaby, who describes himself as a  seer, a person who can see what the monsters really are. (Come to think about it, he reminds me a bit of Nick Burkhardt too from Grimm).

  

On her first case she learns that a fiendish, otherworldly murderer is stalking the city and since the regular only seek for the natural it is up to Abigail and Jackaby to find their supernatural killer. A great mystery and a good read.

 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar children

The protagonist of our story is 16 year old Jacob Portman whose grandfather showed him peculiar photographs when he was a child. When his grandfather is killed by a monster, everyone tries to tell Jacob that he had a psychiatric episode and didn't really see what he thought he saw. To try and "cure" him Jacob's father and he leave for the tiny island where his grandfather lived as a child. While there, Jacob learns that all his grandfather's tales were true and they are all in great danger.

The "peculiar" children kind of reminded me of the idea behind the X Men with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children being like Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. Where the similarities end however is that the children in this novel are more concerned about surviving and not being killed by the non-mutants and monsters that always pursue them instead of saving the world. This is not a bad thing. The story is a great fantasy tale and I already have the X Men.

The method of writing the tale was also interesting. Ransom Riggs found a lot of old photographs that I shall term Pre Photoshop Photoshop. Photos that had been somehow rigged to give out extraordinary effects like double exposure that sort of things. For example notice the levitating girl here on the front page. Taking these old photos, Riggs decided to write a story where these photos could be real and not just tricks of the photographer. It is an interesting concept and I look forward to reading more of the series.