New Releases by Jane Ray

Lyrical, eerie, haunted, sing-song, blunt, intellectually demanding and often funny, some of these poems rhyme, some don't. Covering California territory from the Los Angeles basin to the Point Reyes peninsula, and using characters adapted from Malaysian creation stories, themes of Buddhist meditation practice, and quirky contemplations of Catholic Sister Fishwick, the pilgrim voice heard in The Knot Garden ponders the question: What is the shape of the world? Not simply the planet itself, but the spiritual story we tell to understand our place in it. Without a story, a spiritual world-view, it is difficult to know how to choose rightly our actions in life. When it seems the coherence of our world view may be overwhelmed by spiritual chaos and ecological destruction brought about in part by the fragmentation of modernity, these poems affirm that recombinant, re-weaviing, re-gathering powers of creative nature can lead us through its disintegration on a path open to faith. This second edition contains an afterword by Janet Nippell.

Bicycle spokes still flay afternoon avenues, tumbleweeds still roll a stumbling plain. We stray into an uprooted acre, and Inna binds the blind seat of the heart. Inna Jane Ray's poems in California Hours move between childhood memories and imagined futures across a dramatic human and natural landscape. Written in the late 1970s, Ray's eight-poem cycle painted the effects of drought, flood, fire and urbanization in her native California. Bonnie Barrett's new design of the original hand bound book makes Inna's work accessible now and includes samples of her art gleaned from her sketchbooks, paintings and photography. The edition includes a foreword by Janet Nippell.

Poetry about contemporary spiritual life, written in non-churchy and non-ironic language. Serious, humorous, often startling meditations engage the spiritual searching of both believers and non-believers. These poems are full of ideas but not academic, full of feeling but not sentimental. They can be unsettling for know-it-alls, challenging for skeptics, helpful for catechists, inspirational for preachers, and provide thoughtful support for prayer. The author is a Catholic of the Vatican II persuasion, a Boomer from the California coast, and has come to believe what she was once told by a Franciscan teacher: that there are no Christians in Heaven, because in heaven our human desperation for rigid identity systems dissolves in Love. Dedicated to all people who have come to feel that something is missing. This second edition has a foreword and author biography by Janet Nippell.

The third volume in Jane Ray's short story collection featuring 'The Lion and the Unicorn', 'Brer Wolf', 'The Singing Ringing Tree', 'Theseus and the Minotaur', and many more.

Atalanta is the fastest runner in the world but will only marry the man who can beat her in a race; Perseus must destroy the snake-headed gorgon, Medusa; Pandora has been given the gift of curiosity, what will happen if she opens the forbidden magic jar? Pegasus, the miraculous flying horse, has never been tamed, can Bellerophon catch him? These ten wonderful tales from the world of Greek mythology are perfect for reading aloud to younger children. The stories are told by Sally Pomme Clayton, one of the UK’s most spellbinding storytellers, with beautiful, glowing illustrations by the award-winning artist Jane Ray. Included are notes and a map showing the real places in Greece that are connected with the stories.

With this extraordinary collection of stories--each featuring a bird as a central character--Jane Ray has crafted a special gift for children who love to read and be read to. Ray retells and stunningly illustrates a rich variety of tales from around the world, from Oscar Wilde's beloved "The Happy Prince" to the charming African myth "Mulungu Paints the Birds." Jane's writing style simply glides along, revealing tales of wonder, magic and mystery.

On each of the twelve days of Christmas, more and more gifts arrive from the recipient's true love.

Ahmed is a poor orphan boy who lives with a travelling circus, working for cruel Madame Saleem, the circus-owner. But his life is changed when he finds a beautiful egg in the forest, and brings it back to the circus. From the egg hatches a child, a little girl called Aurelia, a child who, as she grows, sprouts soft feathers that turn into wings. But Madame Saleem keeps Aurelia in a cage, to be her top attraction at the circus, and never lets her out. Ahmed knows he must free Aurelia the Feather Girl from her cruel cage or she will die. One night he creeps into Madame Saleem's caravan, takes the key to Aurelia's cage and lets her fly free. Now Ahmed's life becomes even harder, as the circus-owner takes revenge for losing her star attraction. But one night Aurelia comes to him in a dream and brings him a feather... and Ahmed begins to hope again. Dreams and memories are the key in this beautiful and fantastic tale of magic, enchantment and freedom from a master storyteller and illustrator of children's books.

Discovering a fairy with an injured wing in her dollhouse, a surprised Rosy nurtures her untidy and demanding houseguest while Rosy's father recuperates in the hospital.

A l'orée d'une grande forêt vivait un pauvre bûcheron avec sa femme et ses deux enfants. Le garçon s'appelait Hansel et la fille Gretel. Le bûcheron avait bien du mal à nourrir sa famille et, lorsque survint la famine, il fut désespéré.

The story of Snow White told through six beautifully illustrated 3D peep-through tableaux.A beautiful girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as dark as the winter branches...and the wicked queen whose jealousy knows no bounds. The classic story of Snow White is here retold and illustrated in six exquisite three-dimensional scenes by Jane Ray, returning to the original Grimm fairy tale for elements of the story and giving her world a real sense of theatrical drama and romance. Six scenes tell the story of Snow White and each scene is three layers deep so you can peer through the woods to the house of the seven dwarfs for instance. Swathes of red curtain and a wooden stage complete the theatrical effect.

In a land that has stood barren, parched by drought and ravaged by frosts since the Queen's death, the King sets his three daughters the task of making the kingdom bloom again, and discovers that sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.

A beautiful, golden, jewel-studded statue and a little swallow give all they have to help the poor.

On the edge of the forest, high in the old oak tree, sits Jub, shaking out the happy endings into the violet night air.

"At the very beginning of the world the earth was a dry and dusty place, where nothing could live and nothing could grow. So God made a mist, which watered the ground all over. Then, with his great hands, he formed the first man out of the clay of the newly watered earth."Jane Ray's beautiful version of the familiar story takes into account creation myths the world over. The story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden is powerful because it is the story of all the children growing up and going out into the world. The need to recreate that perfect garden and live again in harmony with the environment is more pressing today than ever before.An Eden Project Book

A prose retelling, incorporating lines from the play, of the tragic consequences of a deadly feud between two rival families in Renaissance Verona.

Have you ever seen a mermaid? Eliza has! And this is the story of how she and a mermaid become inseperable friends.

The king is puzzled. Every morning his twelve daughters look tired and pale, and their silk shoes are in tatters. What have they been doing? The king promises that the man who solves the mystery will marry one of his daughters and rule the kingdom. But the princesses are as clever as they are beautiful - will anyone succeed?

Habla de los cuentos que han contado las personas del mundo antiguo, explica su entendimiento de lo que ellos podian ver en el cielo.

Quand un petit gars hardi trouve un petit pois, il fait trois petits pas, siffle trois notes et puis s'en va... Mais où va-t-il donc comme ça ?

Jane Ray is one of todays foremost childrens illustrators and won the Smarties Prize in 1992 for The Story of Creation. With this picture book, she retells the Christmas story, with a fold-out Nativity scene and stand-up characters'

A book which takes your breath away as it exxplores in words and images the ancient and eternal mysteries of the heavens. It contains over 20 myths and legends, alongside pages of Sunlore, Moonlore and Starlore, facts and ideas about how people used to navigate by the stars and why they thought the earth was flat, about the Star Of Bethlehem , and the Signs of the Zodiac.