Book Review: St. George and The Dragon - Retold by Margaret Hodges & Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

Book Cover

    "In the day when monster and giants and fairy folk lived in England, a noble knight was riding across a plain."

Trina Schart Hyman illustration of St. George

St. George and The Dragon is a book for children, and a book for adults who love fairy-beauty and well-told tales. My husband had a copy of his own when we were college-chums; my daughter treasures her's for the picture of the knight "sleeping in the water." She carries it 'round the house, playing St. George and kissing his Icon from the altar with almost as much affection as she gives St. Nikolas. The story has captivated her, thanks in part to Ms. Hyman's rich illustrations. The images themselves are breath-taking, and each page of text embellished with boarders of detail-work and illumination.

Trina Schart Hyman illustration of St. George

 My image of St. George is from the east - the dragonslayer who saved Lizaveta, instead of the English Una. He defends horses and livestock and husbands. This St. George of Merry England is delightfully similar: fine, heroic, kind, and more than a touch magical. His tale, as Magaret Hodges tells it, is so full of sacramental images and the magic of a land redeemed. 

 

Trina Schart Hyman illustration of St. George and the Dragon

Read it with mugs of cocoa, on grey days or sunlit winter afternoons, either aloud to a child or else quietly, in the tub - with toy figures to act out the exciting parts. Or, more piously, read with tea, mediating on the parallels between St. George's falls and Christ's as He carried His cross, the healing water, the healing tree, and the virtues of the Red Cross Knight.

Trina Schart Hyman illustration of St. George and Una

Paperwine Refreshed

 We've been hanging out in the snow a lot recently..there's a lot to enjoy. Piles and Piles of it. And the constant intrusion of weather onto our plans has given Seth a chance to rest, relax, and create! He's loaded more cards onto Paperwine:

Romantic..

 

 Whimsical..

Woodland cards..I'm very fond of them.

Updates

I'm updating..

 Not just the blogs, which have been feeling a little tired recently, but the house as well.

Not a lot..just a few little changes: more fabrics, lanterns, and flowers..

In my mind the updates are huge - I have journals devoted to cut out inspirations, and I'm eating up my computer time on Pinterest. But right now, the house is just shifting slightly..it's neater, fresher-looking, and more inspiring - or maybe I just feel more inspired because Seth is on vacation until March. I love having him home. Yarrow adores having him home - to paint and play and work with..he makes the whole house brighter.

Plus, when he is home, I have more time to work on things..I may even manage some of those thoughtful posts I promised back in January..Until then, what do you think of Cyganeria's s new look?

Harry Potter Book Club: 11-12

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 I spent most of last night online - huddled in my car at the end of the road, chatting with Jenna and Christie about all the delights of life and Harry Potter. I promised to load my post today..and, since we're expecting another patch of 'heavy' snow today, I'll have plenty of time to write.  Oh winter..It's Christmas at Hogwarts, I don't know what Harry does with all his time in the nearly deserted castle at Christmas.  I mean, he has an invisibility cloak - why hasn't he discovered more of the castle's secrets for himself? Is playing 'exploding snap' or stuffing his face with Ron in the dining hall really so absorbing? 

(of course, I'm the one who just wasted about 20% of my battery-life looking at Potter memes on Pinterest..most of which are SPOILERS, so I can't share them yet.)

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Expecto Patronum is a pretty awesome spell...but let's admit it, an app would make everything easier...unless you don't have a smart phone, then you're doomed. So maybe it's better to focus on hope - as Jenna writes when she reminds us that we need more than memories to fight off the dark things, we need hope, with all it's 'astonishing resilience and strength.' to persist in our hearts, to fight off the terrors and demons that rush upon us. Hope, after all is something stronger than memory..and it wins over evil everytime.

If you'd like to practice your own Patronus spell, you can create a delightfully alcoholic dementor of your own to work with by looshing  a shot of Absinthe with very cold water until it is a cloudy, pearly green; and stirring in a dash (and just a dash will suffice, Longbottom..don't go drowning it!) of vodka. Clear vodka will give you a very manageable dementor, while black vodka (if you can find it - check the very back of the potion's cupboard, Snape's a hoarder) will have you fighting off a Dementor's Kiss. Serve it with a slab of chocolate for quick recovery.

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 Jenna mentioned the Christmas dinner at Hogwarts and I agree..they're a crazy collection of Holiday stereotypes.. I would love to see what staff meeting look like at the castle. McGonagall  loathes Trelawney, hates Snape, is continually frustrated by Hagrid, worships Dumbledore, and dismisses Flitwick..Snape hates everyone and is too full of resentment to work well with anyone.. It's too bad Rowling never gave us a sneak peek into the staffroom: Snape sipping bad coffee (no cream) and glaring at Lupin - remembering every wrong do to him; Lupin avoiding conversations that might lead to awkward werewolf issues; McGonagall drinking some sort of smokey, peaty tea (with milk and a biscuit), writing lesson plans and ignoring everyone..tension and unspoken arguments everywhere. Dumbledore couldn't have picked a less cohesive staff if he tried.

Harry Potter Book Club: Social Hazards

Lupin

There is a certain hazard in reaching out to people, particularly to people you care about deeply. In this chapter, Professor Lupin is walking a fine line with Harry. He is, in this book alone, Rowling's best attempt at a father-figure for Harry; and it's clear he steps into the role unwillingly. Maybe he knows that reaching out to Harry will eventually require him to confront all the losses and missed-opportunities in his past. He seems so terribly full of regrets in his conversation with Harry after class, so afraid to care too much; but reluctant as he is, Lupin agrees to help. It's a scene that promises so many good things to come.

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The Marauder's Map follows quickly after Harry's interview with Lupin, and the contrast is interesting: responsible Harry, seeking knowledge that will protect him and make him stronger against the things haunting his waking life, getting direction from the most fatherly figure in his life right now; while reckless Harry seeks a different sort of knowledge, the sort to distract him from those haunting things, but put him at risk from them as well..and, as for the person or persons responsible for each source of knowledge, SPOILERs are lurking there, so we'll wait. But Jenna has some interesting questions about the map:

                     How did Fred and George ever figure out how to work it? (I like to imagine they wrote things that Filch would have found threatening on the paper and activated the spell that way, later switching to speaking the spell to save time.)  
                   Did Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs use the exact same phrasing? (I doubt it, the map seems very aware...maybe it recognizes kindred spirits in how they attempt to figure out what it does. Maybe they just said 'map' and 'done' - Fred and George like to be showy.)

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I'm not sure how I feel about the concept of a spell of concealment within a 'single, living soul' it's an interesting concept, but why couldn't James himself have been the 'secret keeper' - then there would have been no trouble. He could reveal it to those he trusted, and he'd be certain not to betray himself or his family? Why not? Anybody know? But I'm with Jenna..I'm determined "not to question the believability of a scene in which the Minister of Magic and Professor McGonagall gossip wiht Hagrid and a barmaid." Didn't the Minister throw Hagrid in prison with no evidence just last year? Sometimes it's good to hold a bit of a grudge, Hagrid. Challenge the Minister to change his ways before you'll be willing to drink and laugh with him at bars!

Tea and Rhythm

My days begin and end in steam. The dark winter mornings are slow - after long nights nursing the stove I pour a blue and white ‘willow’ cup full of coffee and watch the cream swirl in to the thick darkness. The ritual opens my day, before sunrise, before food and music, and morning prayer. There is something sacred in the quiet moment, a tiny retreat before stepping out into the day; a chance to greet the dawn from my own interior cloister. That lonely cup is my cell, and in it I learn everything there is to know about the new day.

When the day truly begins, with morning prayer and the early meal, we fall into a pattern for our hours - ora et labora - clean, tea, wood, tea, play, lunch, read, tea… the itinerary changes. This week I clean, split-wood, write, read all about Wilma’s fat cat and pet rat as they argue over a mat, tend the stove, and sew. The consistency is in the breaking, in the moments of tea and quiet, or tea and chatter, in the time spent at our little table - or on chairs before the roaring fire - refreshing our tiny community.

Evening tea is reflective. After supper-time, after evening prayers there is often, but not always, a later cup. For it I leave my willow-ware resting on shelves and hold one of my own again. The softness of my own small creation sleeping gently against my hand is soothing to the ever-shifting palm-lines; I can feel each moment of it’s creation - as though there ought to be a mark for this, and every other pot I’ve birthed, and perhaps there are, so tiny they stay hidden. Secret remembrances to each and every earthen-child. My daughter sleeps while I sip memories - “Before I formed you..” The coyotes howl together in the distance, and I think of all the ways to know the not-yet-born.

Harry Potter Book Club: Book 3, Chapters 8-9

In our trip though Harry’s third year at Hogwarts we’re full in the middle of all sorts of internal drama at the school. Sirius Black has broken in, done nothing, and broken out again while everyone is conveniently out of the way (good thinking for someone hunting information, not so good for snatching Harry) - but Snape is hinting (carelessly within-earshot of Harry & Co.) that someone on staff is helping, and since Lupin and Hagrid are the only new-appointees, it’s obviously Lupin he’s referring to (so you’re not SPOILED, right?). But why do teachers at Hogwarts never have important conversations in private?

I sort of love Snape’s chance at Defense Against the Dark Arts..finally he’s teaching his subject and it must have been so frustrating for him! (Honestly, if I were subbing for a class like that, I’d be kind of crabby too..how hard is it to just

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In her post last week, Jenna brings out the problematic ambiguity of Lupin’s encouragement to Harry in chapter 8, Harry tells Lupin that he expects the boggart would turn into a dementor for him, and Lupin gives this bit of empty encouragement:

“I’m impressed…That suggests that what you fear most of all is - fear. Very wise, Harry.”

Does it? Is it? I'm doubtful on both counts. Jenna writes:

I'm not sure what to make of this statement; to me, it sounds a little bit like "Seize the day" and other bits of popular aphoristic wisdom: helpful enough for certain people under certain circumstances, but not necessarily true in the transcendental sense.

And like her, I find it hard to feel the truth of Lupin’s little affirmation. For a few reasons:

• I thought Rowling said the Dementors represented depression, not fear. Two very different emotional experiences. So if Harry feared the dementors themselves, wouldn't he be more afraid of despair than fear?

• Harry’s response to the Dementors seems less based on fear and more on the horror of being helpless at his parents death, horror at his own overwhelming reaction compared to his peers, and a sort of all-encompassing sorrow for his parent’s death and all the opportunities for a loving, joy-filled childhood that died with his parents.

• Fearing fear doesn’t seem particularly wise - it seems instinctual, something paralyzing, and something courage can overcome once Harry begins to see it as a weakness and not a strength.

I don’t see anything wrong with Harry’s fear of the Dementors - I actually love that he thought of the Dementors and not Voldemort (sometime more immediate, more directly threatening to him right now) - it makes sense that Harry would fear something that is a current threat.  I appreciate Lupin in this scene - he’s open, honest, caring, and respectful..he doesn’t shift his eyes and avoid the question; he just answers Harry’s question and it’s a wonderful indication of the character Rowling seems to be building in Lupin. But the comfort offered is weak and meaningless. 

Snape understands that hard truths have to be said..Harry should have come to him and said, "I'm most afraid of dementors." Snape would have given Harry something real to fear - Cedric Diggory goes on to become a whiny, emo, puddle of self-loathing and body-glitter. Now, work up a spell against that.

Thanks Jenna! Sorry about the Edward-hate ;)