...Key.
Secret.
Dreamportal.
Cheat code (if your metaphors are so inclined, and as discussed yesterday, who am I to judge?).
Talk about magic...
the idea of Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess collaborating on anything is enough to send me running for my cloak and basket of tincture bottles, ready to venture out into whatever Wood happens to be nearest. But this...
There's a small, wistfully indignant voice coming from the vicinity of my left elbow that wants to know where this book was when we were starting out on our adventures, but she's answered by another, warmer one in the back of my throat, who reminds her that we didn't need it.
And she's right.
Still, if anyone feels like gifting their favorite young (or old) adventurer with the best consolidated set of Instructions I've come across in - well, in forever, really - here's a link to pre-order it from Neil's online store. I also recommend Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles (aka the "Dealing with Dragons" books), anything and everything by Tamora Pierce and Jane Yolen, and Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" series.
I have a strong desire to venture out into the rain and mist right now to the local library and curl up cross-legged between the wooden bookshelves in the exact same spot I spent hours in as a girl, reading and rereading all my favorites. I bet it smells exactly the same as it did twenty years ago. I bet the carpet's still scratchy and the painted bricks are still peeling and the librarians are still busy helping awkward, imaginative kids find the myths and role models that will shape every one of their amazing adventures from childhood on. I bet it's still the most magical place in this tiny, little town.I wonder if they've got room for another book?
