BOOKS BOOKSJack and the Manger retells the story of Jesus's birth as if it were a Newfoundland folktale. It's all seen through the eyes of Jack, the hero of many a story, who befriends a young couple on their walk to Bethlehem. There's a bit of 'angel talk', some gravel pit camping, an edge-of-your-seat birth drama, and the low-down on how Caesar Augustus's 'count-and-tax plan' brought them all together. A down-to-earth version of a heavenly tale.
Gentle, playful and very funny, Jack and the Manger is the second in an on-going series of Jack tales, combining the talents of Andy Jones, one of Newfoundland's finest storytellers and actors, and Darka Erdelji, one of its most distinctive artists.
Jack and the Manger is a fine Christmas tale for young and old alike.
Darka Erdelji, whose illustrations for The Queen of Paradise's Garden were widely praised, captures the sly wit, intelligence and great-heartedness of Jones's tale in her pictures once again. She studied puppet scenography in Prague, and has created remarkable puppets and puppet plays both in Canada and in her native Slovenia. Her illustrations can be found in books from publishers in Newfoundland and Slovenia as well.
The book was designed by Veselina Tomova of Vis-à-Vis Graphics, St. John's, and printed by The Lowe-Martin Group in Ottawa, Ontario.
It is available in two offset-printed versions: a trade paperback and a hardcover edition. Both books are printed on Rolland Natural paper, and measure 9 inches x 9 inches; 40 pages.
Paperback 9780973757897 ($17.95) Hardcover 9780986611308 ($26.95), with cut-out nativity scene
AVAILABLE NOW from Running the Goat: www.runningthegoat.com
Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, not in your time, indeed not in my time, but in olden times, when quart bottles held half a gallon and houses were papered with pancakes and pigs run about with forks stuck in their backs seein who wanted a slice o’ ham, there were two old people and they never had no children, and they figured they were too old to ever have any.
So begins Andy Jones’s wonderful new adaptation of a traditional Newfoundland tale. Of course, it’s clear from the story’s beginning that there are children on the way, and one of those children is Jack, the delightful, mischievous, big-hearted hero of so many Newfoundland tales. Told with the humour, warmth and sly wit that have made Andy Jones one of the Island’s finest and best-loved storytellers, The Queen of Paradise’s Garden follows Jack on his way to the land of the Queen of Paradise, where he searches for a magic fruit to make his parents young again, and finds quite a few other handy things as well.
The story is a free adaptation of a tale told by Albert Heber Keeping of Grand Bank, which he got from Billy Quann of Sagona Island; Keeping’s version was published in Halpert and Widdowson’s seminal collection, Folktales of Newfoundland.
Darka Erdelji, a Slovenian-born puppeteer and artist now resident in St. John’s, has created stunning illustrations for the story. Erdelji’s artwork is at once otherworldly, wistful and playful; it adds a wonderful dimension to an already engaging story. The limited edition includes a beautiful folded map of Jack’s travels, measuring 16 inches x 13 inches.
The book is available in two offset printed versions: a trade edition and a limited edition on finer paper. The book was designed by Veselina Tomova of Vis-à-Vis Graphics, St. John’s.
Both books measure 9 inches x 9 inches; 44 pages.The Queen of Paradise's Garden is available at the following independent bookstores and gift shops:
Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Island Treasures
St. John's, Newfoundland,Sweet Relic/The Bookery, Gingersnap, Fred's Records, The Travel Bug, Devon House, Belbin's Grocery, The Rooms Gift Shop, The Downhome Shoppe, The Heritage Shoppe
Bonavista, Newfoundland, Cabot Crafts
Eastport, Newfoundland, The Beaches Gift Shop
Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, Carriage House Inn
Woody Point, Newfoundland, The Hunky Dory
Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, Java Jack's
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Outside the Lines, Woozles, Bookmark II
Rothesay, New Brunswick, Benjamin's Books
Sackville, New Brunswick, Tidewater Books
Burlington, Ontario, Different Drummer Books
Leamington, Ontario, Signature Gifts (Leamington Arts Centre)
Hamilton, Ontario, Bryan Prince, Bookseller
London, Ontario, Oxford Book Shop
Ottawa, Ontario, Bytown Book Shop (limited edition), Collected Works Bookstore
Waterloo, Ontario, Words Worth Books
Uxbridge, Ontario, Blue Heron Books
Winnipeg, Manitoba, McNally Robinson Booksellers
An “audio book” CD recorded by Rattling Books
Written by Andy Jones and Michael Jones Sr.
Performed by Andy Jones
Between 1986 and 1989 Uncle Val, an elderly outharbour gentleman, wrote nineteen letters from his new home in the suburbs of St. John’s to his old friend Jack back home. Val’s move from the Bay to the ‘burbs to live with his daughter, her obnoxious husband, their youngsters and two useless poodles, is an uneasy one. His slow adjustment and eventual appreciation for life in ‘town’ is endearingly revealed through his letters to Jack.
For more information, and to purchase your copy, visit www.rattlingbooks.com
“.. just a second. I don’t want to say anything GOOD here about turnips, especially as grown in Newfoundland. But I do feel that I should be given some recognition for resisting -- a floody gush of praise for this vegetable in general and its leftover, salty particularity in my lunch. Just a little bit of recognition. -- Okay, I’ll go further. I’m gonna talk this vegetable down.” (Andy Jones)
Boiled Dinner, Jiggs’ Dinner – call it what you will, it is a Newfoundland culinary classic, and it is most fittingly celebrated in Three Servings. Running the Goat’s newest chapbook combines a prose poem by Michael Crummey and a recipe/remembrance by actor Mary-Lynn Bernard with one of Andy Jones’s most loved and memorable monologues. Bernard recalls growing up with boiled dinner in PEI, and then eating something very similar to it in Ghana. Crummey’s poem, written in the voice of a woman preparing Sunday dinner, is recipe as economy, as social insight, as prayer. Originally published in Hard Light (Brick Books 1998), the poem has since been featured on the audio recording of that book (Rattling Books 2003) and in Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland’s theatrical presentations “Hard Light” and “Salvage: The Story of a House” – it was performed as a monologue in both productions. And Andy Jones’s monologue, a long-time favourite of many of his fans, is a reflection on the profoundly physical, psychologically intense, almost sexual experience of eating leftover boiled dinner. It will change forever the way you think of pease pudding.
In Limited fine paper edition of 100 (sold in a pudding bag) signed by artist and authors, or Plain paper edition.
Available at:
Devon House Gift Shop, 59 Duckworth Street, St. John’s (709) 753-2749
Afterwords, 245 Duckworth St., St. John’s
Sweet Relic, 42 Power's Court (off the road to Signal Hill), St. John’s
more info at Running the Goat Books and Broadsides
Written by the CODCO collective
Edited by Helen Peters with an introduction and note on the text
Including:
COD ON A STICK
SICKNESS, DEATH AND BEYOND THE GRAVE
DAS CAPITAL: OR WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE HARBOUR FOR ANYWAY?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SMELL MY…POCKETCRUMBS?
THE TALE ENDS
with photos and musical scores
“Self-confidence and self-mockery need each other. Both were blighted here [in Newfoundland] by the diktats of The Commission, the Juicy Fruit dollars and cocksure teeth of the Yanks and the witch’s-tit charity and Newfie jokes of Confederation. It was a long bleak season we survived between Johnny Burke and Cod on a Stick.” – Ray Guy
“I don’t mind the dirt, but for God’s sake don’t make fun of the pope.” – Cathy’s mother
“You’ll never write another show as good as Cod on a Stick” – Tommy’s mother
This book presents the texts of five plays, collectively written and performed during the years 1973 to 1976 by the Newfoundland theatre troupe CODCO. CODCO’s satiric plays expose universal ignorance, prejudice and abuse with the ironic wit of the people of Newfoundland. The plays are distinguished by their graveyard or gallows humour. CODCO played an important role in the evolution of Canadian theatre and is an early signifier of Canada’s attainment of cultural maturity. CODCO’s weekly television series commenced broadcasting in 1988.
Available here:
Fred’s Records, 198 Duckworth Street, St. John’s (709) 753-9191
Afterwords Book Store, 245 Duckworth Street, St. John’s (709) 753-4690
* International Youth Library of Munich, Germany's White Ravens List for 2004 – (international books for children and young adults whose humanistic values or innovative design and artwork are worthy of special note)
* Shortlisted for the 2004-2005 Hackmatack Reading Award
Peg Bearskin is big, ugly, and hairy, but she has the wit, tenacity and courage to outfox a witch and find husbands for her two beautiful sisters and one for herself as well. A typical folktale? Well, perhaps. But Peg is no typical heroine, and the ending of her story isn’t typical either. So, Running the Goat Books and Broadsides has made a book that’s worthy of her: big, ugly and hairy – but as beautiful inside as is Peg herself. The story is taken from a version told by Mrs. Elizabeth Brewer of Freshwater, Placentia Bay. It was adapted by Philip Dinn and Andy Jones for “Jack-Five-Oh,” a storytelling play that marked the 50th anniversary of Newfoundland’s entry into confederation with Canada. Mercedes Barry, who told the story in some versions of the play, also had input in this adaptation.
In Fun-fur Limited Edition of 100 signed by adaptors and illustrator, or trade edition.
Available at Granny Bates Children’s Books, 2 Bates Hill, St. John’s (709) 739-9233 or 1-800-563-8851
More info at Running the Goat Books and Broadsides