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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Kate Crackernuts by Katharine M. Briggs Kate Crackernuts. In a land troubled by witches and feuding clans, step-sisters Kate and Katherine form an unlikely friendship over a shared love of fairies. This does not go down well with everyone . Grizel Maxwell may be Kate's mother, but she is also a witch, and jealously plots to get rid of Katherine with a curse, forcing Kate and Katherine to leave their homeland to escape the evil In a land troubled by witches and feuding clans, step-sisters Kate and Katherine form an unlikely friendship over a shared love of fairies. This does not go down well with everyone . Grizel Maxwell may be Kate's mother, but she is also a witch, and jealously plots to get rid of Katherine with a curse, forcing Kate and Katherine to leave their homeland to escape the evil witch and seek a cure for her terrible spell. First published in 1963, Katherine Briggs' wonderful re-casting of the classic fable of friendship conquering all is a rare and beguiling mix of folk- lore and fantasy. The author's own fascination with the English folk-lore tradition imbues the telling with seriousness and beauty that transcend its generic roots. more. Get A Copy. Friend Reviews. Reader Q&A. Be the first to ask a question about Kate Crackernuts. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. It's always interesting to re-read a book that you very much liked a long time ago. It's probably been nearly ten years since I last read this book: a retelling of the Scottish folk tale Kate Crackernuts written by eminent folklorist Katherine Briggs. I really enjoyed returning to Brigg's 17th century Britain in which the Good People of British folklore are real as described in the traditional folklore which Briggs knew so well. In theory, this is a novel for young readers, however it's written i It's always interesting to re-read a book that you very much liked a long time ago. It's probably been nearly ten years since I last read this book: a retelling of the Scottish folk tale Kate Crackernuts written by eminent folklorist Katherine Briggs. I really enjoyed returning to Brigg's 17th century Britain in which the Good People of British folklore are real as described in the traditional folklore which Briggs knew so well. In theory, this is a novel for young readers, however it's written in heavy Scottish dialect which would be rough going for a lot of modern young readers -- far more so than Briggs other novel (and my favorite) Hobberdy Dick. However, for anyone with an interest in traditional folklore this world of witches, curses, sprites, and the tithe owed to Satan on Halloween is well worth the read. more. Readers also enjoyed. Genres. About Katharine M. Briggs. Early Life Katharine Briggs was born in Hampstead, London in 1898, and was the eldest of three sisters. The Briggs family, originally from Yorkshire, had built up a fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries through coal mining and owned a large colliery in Normanton, West Yorkshire. With such enormous wealth, Katharine and her family were able to live in luxury with little need to work. Briggs's fath Early Life Katharine Briggs was born in Hampstead, London in 1898, and was the eldest of three sisters. The Briggs family, originally from Yorkshire, had built up a fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries through coal mining and owned a large colliery in Normanton, West Yorkshire. With such enormous wealth, Katharine and her family were able to live in luxury with little need to work. Briggs's father Ernest was often unwell and divided his time between leafy Hampstead and the clear air of Scotland. He was a watercolourist and would often take his children with him when he went to paint the landscape. An imaginative storyteller, he loved to tell his children tales and legends; these would have a great impact on the young Katharine, becoming her passion in later life. When Briggs was 12 her father had Dalbeathie House built in Perthshire and the family moved permanently to Scotland; however, tragedy struck when he died two years later. Briggs and her two sisters, Winifred and Elspeth, developed a close bond with their mother, Mary, after this - all living together for almost fifty years. As Briggs and her sisters grew older their main passion was for amateur dramatics. They wrote and performed their own plays at their home and Briggs would pursue her interest in theatre throughout her education. After leaving school she attended Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, graduating with a BA in 1918 and an MA in 1926. She specialised in the study of traditional folk tales and 17th-century English history. The Folklorist Briggs continued her studies largely as a hobby, while living with her sisters and mother in Burford, Oxfordshire. She collected together traditional stories from across the country and the wider world, but did not publish them yet. Together she and her sisters performed in plays with local amateur dramatics groups and Briggs wrote historical novels set during the Civil War (also unpublished). When the Second World War started Briggs joined the WAAF and later taught at a school for the children of Polish refugees. After the war Briggs threw herself into her folklore studies, completing her PhD on the use of folklore in 17th-century literature. In 1954, the first Katharine Briggs book was published, titled The Personnel of Fairyland , a guide to the folklore of Great Britain. This was followed by Hobberdy Dick (1955), a children's story about a hobgoblin in Puritan England. Though these books brought a small amount of interest, it was not until the 1960s and 1970s, following the deaths of her sisters and mother, that Briggs became a renowned folklorist. In 1963 she published another children's book, Kate Crackernuts , and became involved with the Folklore Society of the UK, later being elected as its president in 1967. Now a preeminent expert on fairy stories and folklore, she began to lecture across the country and by the 1970s she had been invited to give lectures in the United States and was regularly interviewed on television. In 1971 she published her masterpiece, the four-volume A Dictionary of Folk-Tales in the English Language . This work remains the definitive collection of British folk stories, becoming a vital resource for writers, academics and storytellers. Katharine Briggs died suddenly at the age of 82 on 15th October 1980. At the time of her death she had been working on a memoir of her childhood days in Scotland and Hampstead, where her love of folklore began. de Grummond Collection. Restrictions Noncirculating; available for research. Copyright The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above. Biographical Sketch. Katharine Mary Briggs was born November 8, 1898 in London, England, the daughter of Ernest Briggs, an artist and storyteller who introduced his daughters to the world of folklore. As a Brownie Scout and a Girl Scout, she further developed her storytelling talents. As an adult she honed her performance skills as the head of an amateur touring company. She received her master's degree from Oxford University in 1926, and her Ph.D. from the same institution in 1952. She was primarily known and widely respected as a scholar of folklore. She published prolifically in this field from 1959 until her death in 1980. Her greatest scholarly achievement was probably the publication of the four-volume work A Dictionary of British Folktales in the English Language in 1970. An Encyclopedia of Fairies (1976) was also widely acclaimed. Briggs was writing for children before she began writing for a scholarly audience. Her first book, The Legend of Maiden-Hair, was published in 1915, and she wrote several other children's books, most of which were based on folktales and legends. In 1969, Briggs was named President of The Folklore Society, a post she held until 1972. Although Briggs passed away in 1980, The Folklore Society named an award in her honor in 1982. According The Folklore Society website, "The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award is an annual book prize established by the Folklore Society to encourage the study of folklore, to help improve the standard of folklore publications in Britain and Ireland, to establish The Folklore Society as an arbiter of excellence, and to commemorate the life and work of the distinguished scholar Katharine Mary Briggs (1898-1980; Society president 1969-1972). The contents of the Katharine Briggs Papers. "The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award." The Katharine Briggs Folklore Award | The Folklore Society . The Folklore Society, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017. Scope and Content. This collection contains material documenting two children's books, Hobberdy Dick and Kate Crackernuts, both based on folktales and legends. Hobberdy Dick is the story of a seventeenth-century hobgoblin who guards Widford Manor in the Cotswolds. He is threatened with eviction when a strict Puritan merchant moves to Widford. There are manuscript notebooks for both of these titles. Of her scholarly works for adults, three titles are represented in this collection: An Encyclopedia of Fairies, The Vanishing People, and The Personnel of Fairyland.

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