The Candlemaker and Other Tale

Four original tales written by Victoria Forrester and illustrated by Susan Seddon Boulet.
For all ages.

VICTORIA FORRESTER SAYS:
When I was a girl of perhaps fifteen, I began to realize that liking to write poetry made one a bit different. I was as "horse crazy" as any girl my age; the difference was that my horse had wings and couldn't be saddled except in my dreams.
A few years later, at the university, I majored in English. Most of the classes were interesting but a bit dry. Not so, the course taught by Frances Clarke Sayers; in it we read fantasy and fables, folk tales and fairy tales, and I was drawn to them as to a starry night. I sensed that they grazed in the same pasture as my horse.
I wondered if I would ever be lucky enough to make up a tale myself. What I learned in the years that followed is that nobody can "make up" a tale, that only if you are very ready will a good story allow you to catch it. And what does it mean to "be ready"? Perhaps it means to wait with nothing but pure expectation and to listen for the sound of wings.

SUSAN SEDDON BOULET was born and spent her early years in Brazil. She attended high school in Switzerland and had further education in Brazil and the United States. She now lives with her son in California, where she is a fine artist. This is the first picture book she has done.